American Bred Episode 1: Energy Crisis
by American Companion
Summary: The Doctor comes across a new friend, but this time, it's an American. An American who has no problem using the gun she always carries. How did she come to be on the TARDIS? Who is she really? After Voyage of the Damned.
1. Chapter 1

Lona, the blond haired superstar of the school, was cowering in the corner, hiding behind all her classmates. Her mascara was running down her face onto her "imported" dress. Teachers, all dressed up for the high school prom had made a sort of line in front of the senior class, though the fear was easy to read on their faces. The…intruders? pranksters? people with antennae? were standing in front of the group of seniors. They were brandishing some form of firearms and were talking to the group. On the floor was a teacher who had blood pooling around his head. He appeared to be very dead.

A red-haired girl looked at the scene through the gym door window. _Some class president Lona made._ the girl thought. _Can't say I blame her though. Not as if she was raised with a backbone. Hello, what's this? Why's that freak walking through them? Why is he going up to Lona?_

"If none of you will tell us where it is," growled the one with the most paint on him. _think he's the leader_ "then we will kill this female." he pointed the gun at her head "We have no wish to harm you, we only want the transporter. You will recognize it as a black, small, oval shaped rock. Hand it over and we will leave you in peace!"

Lona started crying harder. "Please, don't kill me! I don't care what you do to the others or what you take, just don't kill me!"

"Silence!" the…person yelled. "Simply give us what we demand!"

"I told you, I don't know-!" the Thing hit Lona hard with the butt of his gun. She fell to the floor, blood pouring from a cut in her head.

The red-haired girl could stand it no longer. She didn't particularly like Lona, but violence was violence, and she figured she could lead the attackers away.

She kicked the gym door open with her foot and walked in. Pulling a revolver out of a shoulder holster, she fired a single shot into the air. Everyone turned toward her, including the 7-foot, tomato colored people. Reaching her hand into her pocket to grasp the thing, she prepared to hold it up.

"Alright! I don't know who you are, or exactly what you're doing here…but is this what you were looking for?"

* * *

The ten attackers lifted their guns and pointed them at the students. Leader hissed at the red-head, saying "Hand it over, and we won't kill your companions."

"What makes you think I care about them? Do I look as though I'm dressed to associate with them?"

Glancing over her jeans, boots, and tee-shirt, Leader had to concede that she didn't look like she was in the same social class the others were. "If you care not for their lives," the others turned towards her, the guns following, "perhaps you will give it to us to save your own."

"I would, but I don't feel like it. You'll have to come take it from me." She put her rock inside her bra and raised her eyebrow at Leader, daring him to come forward.

Leader didn't seem fazed. Bending down, he yanked the unconscious Lona up by her hair. Pulling a knife out of his belt, he held it to her throat. "You may not be their friend, but you are still human. You will not stand by and watch her die. Hand over the transporter!" A line of blood appeared as he pressed the blade harder against Lona's neck. Two other things did the same with different girls at a nod from Leader.

"Put down the knives or I'll shoot you all."

Leader laughed. "You are human. You are weak! You cannot kill."

"Watch me." The girl raised her revolver and shot Leader, and the two others. With a howl of rage, the remaining 7 rushed at the red-head, but she was already through the outside gym doors and down the street.

_What on earth do they think this thing is? Doesn't matter, I've got to lead them away. I'll have to loose them until I can use my cell phone. Where to go? Not a busy place, who knows what would happen. Where to run, where to run? The old shopping center! Half a mile. I can do half a mile. I should have known something like this would happen on the first time I wore make-up._

As her body grew tired, as she tried to stay ahead of the creatures, her thoughts dissolved into a single chant._ Run. Run. Have to lead them away. Run. Run. Have to lead them away._

Suddenly, she was hit from above. "Give it to us! Give it to us!" screamed the creature that had caught up with her. He was clawing at her chest, making large gashes, trying to reach the rock. As she fought, he bit her shoulder. Screeching in pain and rage, she pulled the knife out of the back of his belt, and drove it into his back. Once, twice, thrice she did so. The creature cried out in agony. She pushed him off of her, stood up, and, running on solid adrenaline, jumped over a pile of bricks and-

Crashed right into a wall of clothes.

* * *

_Whoooooooonnnnnnnnnnggggggggg…_

The Doctor looked up from the TARDIS's front room. He had just left the Earth after saving Christmas (again) by stopping a space-cruise ship from plowing into Buckingham Palace. He had been about to catch a supernova and use its energy to land wherever he may, when he had heard the sound of something hitting a wall. It had sounded like it had come from the place he kept all the clothes he had collected in his travels.

Never one to shirk from possible danger, or from a mystery, the Doctor started walking in that direction. "Hello? Someone there? I'm not going to hurt you, just want to know who you are. Lose your way?"

He walked around a corner and started climbing the stairs. Nothing seemed wrong. He was starting to wonder if he was losing his mind for real when-

**Bang!Bang!**

In less time then it takes to blink, someone had rolled partway over the ledge above him, shot twice, and moved back. He touched a spot near his temple. His hand came away bloody. A female voice with an American accent rang down to him.

"Okay buddy, this is how it works! I can see what you're up to quite easily, so don't try anything funny! Keep your hands up, if you have to rest them put them on your head, because if I see your fingers go lower than your eyes, you'll have a black dot between them!

"I don't want any fancy explanations about who you are, how I got here, why you kidnapped me, or even what this place is. All I want is for you to put me right back where I was, understood?"

The Doctor looked puzzled. "What?"

The girl sounded exasperated. "Look, I've had a long day. I'm sure you want to get back to what ever you were doing, so let's try to make this easy, alright? I'll give you the quick story: I am me. I have a revolver that has just been reloaded with its full 6 shots. I don't miss unless I plan to. You are you. You sound as though you're from the UK. I don't know, or care what the Brits want with a Yankee girl like me. All I know is that what I was doing was important, so kindly put me back."

The girl rolled back over the edge, a revolver clutched in her hands and a very nasty look in her eye. "Now."

The Doctor made one of his faces. "Well, you see, I would, except that I have no idea who you are or where you came from. So I can't really help you until you tell me. Tell you what," he said, brightening up. "since you seem rather un-eager to share anything about yourself, how about we exchange information? You ask a question, I ask a question. How's about it?"

As the girl thought over this, the Doctor examined the half of her he could see. She looked rather disheveled, though he certainly wouldn't say that to her face. He couldn't see her shirt, as she was wearing a white shawl that he had picked up in a bazaar a long time ago. Judging from the dark stains that were on the right shoulder and chest area, he deduced that she was bleeding, far too much than was good for her. The girl's face was bruised and cut, as were her arms. Her hair looked at though it had been in a bun earlier, but had been pulled loose. It looked like she had fallen, then been attacked by a mad dog.

"First question." she said suddenly. "And it's this one only because you're trying to give me the run around. Where am I?"

"You're about 34.6 million light-years from Earth, just to the right of the Falzarian sun, which is going to go supernova in about 10 minutes, so we need to make this quick. Can I put my arms down?"

"You're being held at gun point in your own base, you've been shot at, and you could get killed at any moment and you want to put your arms down. I knew the British were crazy, but you have exceeded my wildest expectations. I think you've been trading with America too long. You can sit if you want, but keep your palms flat on the floor, away from your pockets. Twitch a finger and I'll blow it off. Second question: What, precisely, with full explanation, is the thing I'm in?"

"Technically speaking," the Doctor replied while he sat down, "you're in my closet. If you really want to be picky, you're onboard the TARDIS, which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It's a space ship. Inside's bigger then its outside. What's your name?"

"I'm called Kavrin. Yours?"

The Doctor could see that Kavrin was relaxing. The gun was no longer pointed directly at him and she had lost a bit of her tension. "Kavrin. Not an average name so I'm going to assume it's a nickname. I'm called the Doctor. Nothing else, just the Doctor. How did you get here?"

She shifted herself into a sitting position, but where she would still have a clear shot. "Doctor, if I knew that I'd be the happiest girl around. Are we really 34.6 million light-years from Earth?"

"Yes we are. Where are you from? I can at least put you back, when you're done trying to kill me."

"I'm from America, specifically California. How did you get so far from home, Doctor? I didn't know the red-coats were so advanced. I knew they were smart, but not like this."

"Well, I'm not actually British. I'm…well, never mind what I am, let's just say I'm not human. What happened to your shoulder?"

Kavrin suddenly bristled. She brought the gun up again as she started to stand. "Never mind what's wrong with me, I'm still able to give your heart an extra valve without messy surgery. Now get up, lead me to your control room and-" Kavrin gasped and fell against the spiral stairs, clutching at her injured shoulder. The Doctor got up and started moving up to help her but she quickly lifted the revolver up.

"Step back slowly. You come that close to me again and I promise I'll kill you! I've already killed 4 people today, and I'll make it 5 if I have to. Large, ugly things they were. Red and white, with antennae. I shot them in defense of others. I didn't like the other people, oh no. Lucky them I was there. I wasn't going to go, I most certainly wasn't. Then Mrs. President, Lona Sheen tells me I'm part of the decorating staff for the prom. Poor Lona, stupid Lona, lucky lucky foolish selfish Lona. Almost killed. But I saved her. Yes I did. Saved her, I did."

The Doctor stared at Kavrin, trying to figure out what was making her babble so. Death snapped minds, but she was human. Death was a common thing. She had been able to stand while he was talking to her. Was her adrenaline finally receding? Or was it blood loss?"

A drop of something black-green came off her finger. _Grixzen poison. But they're mercenaries. What were they doing on Earth?_

"Lona laughed at me. Oh, she laughed. She won't laugh anymore. None of them will. I saved them. I escaped too. Silly silly tomato people chased me. Followed me for a stupid rock. Thought it was their transporter. Stupid, stupid aliens. Just a rock. Tried to kill me for just a rock." Reaching into the shawl, Kavrin pulled out the rock. It wasn't very large, and looked more like an eraser. She looked at it hard.

"No. Not a rock. Something important. Don't know why. Very important. Can't let anyone else have it." Kavrin started to slide down the wall as her jabber grew softer. "Can't let anyone get it. Can't…let anyone…get it."

Her head sagged forward as she slipped into unconscious.

* * *

*Constructive crictisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*


	2. Chapter 2

"Is she awake yet?" a soft, feminine voice asked. "It's been 3 days."

"I know." A more familiar, male voice responded. "It's odd. After this amount of time, a normal human would be dead. But a person like her should be up and moving. How's your hand anyway?"

The female gave a gentle laugh. "Doctor, it isn't hard to grow back fingers at this hospital. We wouldn't have known about her if she hadn't cut them off. I consider it a blessing that she did.

"And she isn't human. She's a Rahki. More specifically, a Jahra Rahki. That's why it's taking her so long to heal. She isn't just healing. She's reverting back to her original state. The poison woke up her dormant cells."

"That raises more questions then answers. The Rahki know about the Time Lords. Even the Jahra Rahki do, and every Rahki is always conscious of the fact they're Rahki. She would have said something."

_I cut someone's fingers off? Why can't I move? Hold on, is this one of those, what-do-you-call-it, comas? Am I in a coma? What's a Rahki? Why are they saying I am one? I'm human._ Kavrin thought.

The female didn't answer the Doctor's questions, but asked her own. "I see she still has that rock. You haven't been able to take it from her?"

"No. Every time I get within 6 inches of that hand, she clenches it into a fist and starts stabbing at me with that dagger again. I'm glad she doesn't have the revolver though. She traded it out for her dagger when I started to move forward to help. She wouldn't let me near, so I left her and flew the TARDIS over."

"I suppose she felt the knife would serve better as a protective device."

A small beep near Kavrin's head made her start. Well, her mind anyway. _Stupid coma. At least I can hear. But what are they talking about? How can I cut someone's fingers off in a coma? More importantly, what's so odd about me that makes people __glad__ I cut off their fingers? Why do I care so much about that rock?_

"She's awake Doctor. Has been for a few minutes. She's still immobile, but her mind is beginning to turn outward instead of focusing on her shift. I think she heard all that we've been saying.

"I'll leave you now. It will be a few hours before she gains muscle control, and you should start explaining things to her before she can interrupt." The sound of clicking heals signified the departure of the woman.

_Probably a nurse. This place does sound like a hospital. Smells like one too, in the sense that it smells like disinfectant and medicine. Hang on, sounds like the Doctor's moving a chair closer. If he tries to touch me I'll try my hardest to run him through._

"At least you're starting to wake up. I have more questions than answers, and there's nothing to explain to you. If you're really a Jahra, you know exactly what's going on. When you truly wake up, I'm going to be asking you so many questions it will make your head spin."

"_You don't have to sound so upset. It's not like I actually know what's going on."_

Kavrin heard the chair scrape the floor as it moved back. She could almost see the Doctor's puzzled look. In fact-

"How did you do that?"

"_I'm lying in a coma, and the nutcase thinks I did something. Yeesh. Some people are just flat out bonkers."_

"You did it again. I heard you. Jahra have no psychic abilities whatsoever. I shouldn't be able to hear you."

"_How should I know how I did it? I hardly know which way is up after what's been happening. However, since I can talk to you, what's a Jahra?"_

"You mean you don't know?"

"_No, I'm just giving you a pop quiz. Of course I don't know! I'm a human. I grew up in America! California, America! Of course I have no idea what other species are! Americans barely know what their own government is doing, let alone other countries and planets. UK students might be taught how to fly through space, but that just hasn't caught on where I come from."_

"Yeah, you might have lost your memory if you grew up there. Especially if it was Southern California."

"_Watch it! Most of my family came from there. Even if I personally grew up in Northern California…"_

"Then you might actually understand what I'm going to tell you. Now, keep quiet while I talk, or we'll never get through this.

"The Rahki are a race of aliens. They look fairly human on the outside. Inside, they have three hearts, extra large lungs, and the other organs are mixed up. The Rahki are the only other race, besides the Time Lords that can travel though time-"

_"You can travel through time? And you didn't even bother to tell me?"_

"It's in the name. We aren't called Time Lord's because we make watches. As I was saying, they are the only other race that can travel through time with relative ease without planning to invade while they're bouncing around. However, after a few…mishaps, in which they caused a rather horrid mess with timelines that took quite a while to straighten out, they were told to find better way to observe time, or to stop altogether.

"After a few years, they had perfected the 'better way'; when a person who had an incredible affect on history, or who was witness to an historical event was born, they would be traded out with a clone that had been grown as a Rahki, then shifted into whatever that species was. The clones were given the minds and personalities of who ever they were replacing, and were left to live the life of that person until after the event. The clone would be brought back, the memories extracted and put on file, and be available for all to see, then the clone would be reset for the next person. They were named Jahra Rahki, literally "copy of many."

"_Hang on just one cotton-picking moment. I'm a video camera? I was brought up in a test tube and turned into a walking video camera? What about me? The human me. The real me. The one I'm a copy of. What happens to her?"_

"The real person is kept in a sort of stasis, where they grow and change as the clone does. When the clone is brought back to the ship, all the memories are downloaded into the brain of the original, and all last-minute details-except deadly ones, unless the person was meant to die at that time-are added to the original, and they are placed back in the exact moment the clone left."

"_But I wasn't returned to the Rahki. Unless you're one. Are you? No, you wouldn't be. You kept saying "they". You also wouldn't be having this conversation, and you wouldn't be surprised that I was a Jahra. I'm certainly surprised. Anyway, since I've established the fact that I am not back where I was grown, then what happens to the real me? They don't have me, so can't download my brain to put into her. Won't that throw a timeline someplace out of whack?"_

"In a pinch, the Rahki have another device that records the memories and thoughts of the clone at the same moment the clone has the thought. They can use that to send the original back until they can retrieve the clone and get their own data. It's a lot clearer when it comes straight from the source."

"_What a way to put it. How do I know this isn't some trick and you're monitoring my brain waves or something to see what I'm thinking?"_

"I could only prove that if you were able to move. Now, my first question is going to sound odd, but it will make sense in a moment. Can you see me?"

"_What kind of a question is that? I'm in a coma. How am I supposed to see anything?"_

"No pictures? No idea of what's going on?"

"_I already told you, I'm American. Now, if you'll just give me a tick…"_ Kavrin focused her thoughts on the blur that had been bobbing around in her head from the moment she had started hearing again. Bringing it to the forefront of her mind, she noticed it was shaped like a person in a room. As she concentrated on it, it took a more defined shape. As she focused, it became a perfect picture of the Doctor sitting in a chair. She could see his nose, mouth, that nutty yet awesome hairdo that looked like he had just woke up…even the intense, slightly spacey look his whole expression gave off. The only thing wrong was the color. His clothes and the room he was in was a red hue. His face was tinged green, and every so often a flash of purple would come out of his head. She also saw odd waves around the room. They were blue, and part of them would always get pulled in towards the Doctor's ears. They seemed to coincide with the noises that she heard in the hall.

"_Say something."_

"What?"

As the Doctor spoke, a spear of blue came out of his mouth. Part of it rushed to her, while other bits flew off to join the others around the room.

"_That…was weird. I mean really, really weird. The whole place is red. Your face is green, the area around your head sometimes gets a purple streak, and you're talking in blue. But I can see you! Honestly see you! How on Earth are you doing that?"_

The Doctor abruptly stood. He started pacing the room and waving his arms about. As he did, Kavrin saw waves that were at once blue, red, and green. Flashes of blue came out of his mouth as he talked to her, but mostly to himself.

"Of course! You already absorb energy, and to do that you have to know where it is! Spending years as a human would have left cellular residue in your body that would turn psychic as an additive to that, giving you an even clearer picture of what was going on around you. That's exactly how you would have known where Nurse Shravin's hand was, and when to protect that rock!"

Whirling around suddenly, he faced Kavrin again. "What is that rock anyway? Is it a tracking device? A transmitter of some kind?"

"_Maybe it's a transporter."_ Kavrin interjected wryly.

The Doctor got an excited look on his face. Blue poured out of his mouth like a river, and his face became a darker green. The purple around his head kept going out and getting pulled back in, like electrons spinning around a protein. The entire room was filled with colors bouncing around as he kept going. "A transporter! A preset, selective DNA transporter! You absorb energy so all it would have needed was the DNA to know who to send, then it could have used the energy you already store to send you straight to the TARDIS! You couldn't have gone through time, but you didn't need to because I was at the right moment already!"

"_If I may,"_ Kavrin put in, _"since you seem to have all the answers at the moment, perhaps you wouldn't mind sharing them with me. Why does the room look like a three-year-olds coloring book, what is a DNA transporter, and what do you mean I "absorb" energy?"_

Giving Kavrin a look that clearly stated he felt she was too slow, he started explaining. "A preset, selective DNA transporter is exactly what it sounds like; a transporter that has a preset destination, and requires DNA to get it going. When someone's DNA-has to be blood, or it won't work-comes in contact with the transporter, it immediately sends the person with that DNA code to where ever the destination is."

"_I've been carrying a rock around that uses BLOOD to move a person?"_

"It's not a rock, just looks like one."

"_I found this thing at a BEECH. On a CAMPING TRIP! I've been taking this thing with me everywhere I go, and it's been waiting for me to cut myself so it can MOVE?"_

"Calm down, it's not doing anything now. Probably burnt itself out anyway, only made for one trip. Are you going to keep interrupting?"

Kavrin greeted this remark with a cold silence.

"Good. What was I saying?"

"_You were just about to give me the recipe for haggis, but we can skip that for now. Why is your face green?"_

"That's right. Energy. Everything gives off energy. Light, heat, sound, brain waves, it's all just energy. Everyone can absorb some of that energy, that's how you see and hear. But some people are born, or in your case created, to absorb the extra energy. Those people are always smarter, faster, stronger, and can see better than others. Athletes absorb heat, that's what makes their muscles respond so well. Geniuses and people with psychic abilities absorb brain waves, that's what makes them so smart and so good at telling what others are thinking.

"Once that energy is absorbed, it's stored away until the person uses it, but when they use it, it just creates more energy and creates a never ending cycle of-

"_Energy."_

The Doctor finally stopped moving and just looked at Kavrin. "Yeah. Energy."

"_Now, let me get this straight. I was raised in a test tube by aliens. I was morphed into a human. I was traded out with that human. I've been living someone else's life as a video camera/sponge combination cheepo replacement. I've been carrying a rock around that uses blood to transport a person to a particular spot. I'm lying on a hospital bed who knows where, and I've been in a coma because I'm turning back into an alien."_

Kavrin's eyes snapped open. She sat up abruptly and faced the Doctor. "What kind of race does that to someone?"

* * *

*Constructive crictisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*


	3. Chapter 3

Before the Doctor could react, Kavrin was swinging her legs around to get off the bed. "Before you go trying to stop me, I'm going to get up and find some way out of this, because it sure isn't real. I don't know if I'm hallucinating, if I hit my head a bit to hard, or if I'm dreaming, but I'm going to find a way back to the real world. Now shift."

Scratching the back of his neck the Doctor made a face and answered. "Well, I would do that, but you're still technically dangerous. Carrying a knife around while still recovering from a serious illness doesn't make you the best person to let loose, now does it?" He stood in front of Kavrin with an inscrutable look.

Kavrin glared at the Doctor. With the rock/transporter clenched in her left hand, she only had the right to use. Fortunately, that was all she needed.

In a single fluid movement, she flipped the dagger so that its point was facing her. Then, with the help of the hilt, she hit the Doctor on the side of the skull, effectively knocking him out. "Sorry about that." she said as she stood and walked to the doorway. "But I'm an American, and we're not just stupid. We're stubborn as all get out."

When she stepped into the hallway, she saw a map on the wall in front of her. Using the directions on it, she found her way to the Observation Lounge. Standing in front of the double doors, she quietly said, "Now we'll see what's what."

Walking into the room wasn't like anything else she had ever seen. It was mostly empty, save for a pair of patients playing what looked like 3-D chess. She wasn't paying attention to that though. All she saw was the sky. It stretched out above her through a glass dome, full of constellations she had never seen. Two red moons hung in orbit above her, like eyes overseeing the valley below that stretched to high, snow-capped mountains. Trees and flowers that looked as though they belonged in a children's book dotted the ground, in delicate hues of blue, yellow, and white.

She collapsed into a dead faint.

* * *

"Hello. Wakey wakey. There we go."

Kavrin awoke to find herself staring into the Doctor's smiling face. It sent a clear message of-

"I told you so. You're not well enough to be walking around. It's unsafe for you and other's around you. You need more rest."

"If you don't move, I swear I'll put this dagger right between your eyes."

"No need to get pushy. If you asked nicely once in a while things might go your way."

"I ask nicely only if I feel inclined to be nice towards that particular person. I have no reason to be polite towards you. I'm still not sure what's going on, but you are right in the center of it. One way or another, I will find out what's going on, and I will get back home."

"I would think you'd try to be nicer towards me. I brought you to the hospital and lied to the staff when they asked why you were in the observatory. Told them I'd keep an eye on you."

"Great. Now you're my governess. I can't get rid of you, can I."

The Doctor brushed his hair back. "Oh, I knew Americans were thick, no wonder I never visit there."

"Oy! Watch it! Like I said…thought?…said back in the room, we may not fly through time and space like a UK student-"

"I already told you," the Doctor interjected, standing up, twirling around, and sitting down in a nearby chair all in the same instant, "I'm not really from England. I'm not even human."

"What? You're like me, the, Jahra Rahki, three hearted sponge thing? Or are you from Planet X?"

"Right now, it's my turn to ask the questions. So let's hear it. How did you get on the TARDIS in the first place?"

"How should I know? I didn't even know what the stupid rock was until today." Kavrin gave a small gasp of recognition. "I know what you are! You're a Time Lord. You said so yourself, back in the room when you said that even the Jahra know what a Time Lord was, and I would have said something. And then you told me that your time traveling is in the name. But what's a Time Lord?"

"You aren't as thick as you look. I won't tell you until you tell me how you got here." When she started to protest, the Doctor interrupted. "I don't mean the physics of it. I mean the events leading up to your arrival in my closet."

"It was a normal school day, for the most part. I got up, got dressed, and stuffed a froufrou outfit in my backpack for the prom. I went to school, then stayed after school to help clear the gym and put up all the decorations. "Magic of the Ocean". Had to put up all these fish and blue streamers and mermaids while Lona told me where to put them. I was just about this close to throwing a puffer fish at her."

"Why are you so violent anyway?" The Doctor interjected. "Is it America? Is your brain damaged or something?"

"Maybe it's all that "energy" and me trying to use it up." Kavrin answered sarcastically. "Now keep quiet while I talk or we'll never get through this, as I heard someone once say.

"After I set up, I put on that silly dress. I kept my jeans on under it though, as well my tee-shirt. I like making quick get-aways whenever I have to wear a dress. The dress was modest enough hat you couldn't tell I was wearing my usual clothes.

"After 30 minutes had passed, I was ready to get out, though the thing was supposed to last 4 hours. I was tired of the gossip, the drama, the fake smiles, all that sort of junk. I knew no-one would miss me, so I ducked into the locker room. I had stashed a book in there and was going to read it while everyone else played practice politics. It wasn't long before I heard the main doors bust open and everyone screaming.

"I carefully looked out the windows the locker room doors have in them. I wasn't able to see much, but I was able to get the basic grasp of what was going on. I knew that some one was causing a row, and could see that the Senior class, and the teachers, were terrified, but I also knew that a tarantula could have walked in the room and they would flip out. I figured that it was the Junior class playing their yearly prank, and I didn't want to miss out on the one fun thing of the evening. I got out of my dress, shoved on my boots, and went outside and around the gym using the alleyway. I walked up to the main doors and finally saw what was going on.

"Ten 7-foot tall slabs of muscle were waving guns at the group. Each one had white paint all over their tomato red skin in weird designs and two antennae. They kept demanding a transporter. One of the teachers was already on the floor looking rather dead, so I popped back to my school locker in the main hall to get my gun out."

"You keep a gun in your locker? What kind of school do you attend?" The Doctor asked, with an incredulous tone in his voice.

"A school that's in a really nice place, but I have to walk a little to close to the border of 3 gang's territories to get to it. There's a hole in the wall behind my school locker. I keep it covered with a poster of the college I had planned to attend so that no one will know it's there. I always have extra shells and my revolver in it. Only the janitor knows, and she doesn't mind because…well, just because.

"As I was saying, after claiming my revolver, I went back to the main door in time to hear the description of the transporter and see Lona getting clubbed over the head with the butt of a gun. I walked though the doors and fired a shot into the air. I distracted them by holding up the rock, exchanged words, ended up shooting three of them, ran for it, got jumped by a fourth and stabbed him to death with his own knife. I got up, leapt over a pile of bricks and crashed right into the wall of your ship.

"Now, Time Lord, does that help you in your deductions?"

"No, not so much as I hoped. I already knew who had attacked you from the poison in your shoulder. I already figured out the transporter riddle, so there isn't much else."

"Then it's my turn again. What's a Time Lord?"

"A race of people that travel through time."

"Rather grand name for such a boring description. I get a feeling that there's more to your statement, but I'll have to pull it out another time. What exactly happened while I was unconscious? I remember babbling on about the ro-transporter, then I woke up and heard you chatting with the Matron."

"Ah yes, I was meaning to talk to you about that. I flew the TARDIS here, and had to send in about 5 staff members to get you. You kept trying to run them through. You were oddly silent though.

"Once we got you into the actual building, you froze, then fought harder. You broke lose once and took of running. You went straight to the central core-it runs up and down the entire height of the building-and started frantically looking for something. The staff was able to restrain you again, though.

"They finally got you on the bed, and when Matron Shravin tried to clean that bite mark on your shoulder, you cut her fingers off. When they hit your bare skin, you started screaming in pain. The fingers themselves turned gray, shriveled up, and became ash."

"And that's how you knew I absorbed energy? How would that have shown you?"

"You absorbed the energy from the fingers to heal yourself, and since they were no longer attached to someone they had no way to replenish the energy.

"When you finally stopped screaming, you started babbling again. You kept going on about how someone was in pain, how that person was dying, and how you had to go help them. Then you sat up, looked me in the eye, and asked, "'Doctor, will you save them? Will you promise to try?'" You just kept repeating that same question until I told you I would. Then you fell back, and didn't say anything until you woke up."

Kavrin stayed silent for a few moments, absorbing the new information. "Well. Can't say I understand what I said. Anyway. Just got a few more questions. What exactly was it that bit me?"

"That was a Grixzen. One of the more venomous sort. They're a completely mercenary race. They'll do anything for the right price, but once you pay, they finish whatever they start."

"Finish whatever…" Kavrin suddenly sat up very straight, then got out of her chair. She started walking towards the door of the Observatory Lounge with a determined air. She didn't get very far before the Doctor stopped her.

"Let go of me! I have to get back to Earth right now! If this whole thing is real, then those…things are still down there, and they could be killing people! I have to try and stop it. I have what they want. Let me go back to help! Please let me go back. I have to see my family. Please. Please let me go back." Tears shone in her eyes as she tried to get out the Doctor's grasp. He looked at her, compassion in his eyes. He embraced her, still as a stranger would, but as one who understands. Dropping her knife, she clung to him, sobbing. As hard as she tried to deny it, she knew the truth. Her whole body sang with it. Deep down, she knew the Doctor was right about everything. Deep down, she understood what had happened.

"I'm sorry. I'm so terribly sorry. Out of high school at 15, your whole life ahead of you, and then this happens. You can't go back Kavrin. Your original has already been put back by now. You're still technically the same person. There can't be two of you in the same place at the same time. You can't see them again."

* * *

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*


	4. Chapter 4

"Feeling any better?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

The two of them were sitting in a corner of the Lounge, staring at the night sky. The knife she had used to kill the Grixzen lay on the table in front of her, between her black coffee and his tea. "How'd you know I was only 15? I don't look it, and I know I don't sound it. What tipped you off?"

"I've lived 903 years, long enough to learn how to gauge ages. You didn't act like you'd had a full 18 years in America anyway."

"You look good for your age," she commented, raising an eyebrow.

"Thank you."

She scoffed lightly. "Besides, you'd be surprised how teens in America behave. I've seen 11 years olds live like they've already hit 25, and are out of the house, yet don't have to do chores, work, or pay the bills, and then treat their parents like dirt. Some are straight up obsessed with celebrities and will do anything to get the latest thing. Others are just…in desperate need of help, and I don't mean the emotional or physical kind. I am-was, one of the few who didn't care what the world thought. I used to go out of my way just to be odd and embarrass myself, simply because I didn't care."

She blinked back tears. "No. That wasn't me. That was her. That was another person. I'm just a stupid copy. I'm not even myself. I've got her brain, her memories, her thoughts, wishes, dreams, plans. I was living with her family, talking with her friends. My whole life has been one big act. I just hope I didn't mess it up for her. Kavrin. The real one."

"Oh, stop it. You're real. You have a mind, a heart. Well, three of them actually."

"Doesn't do me much good. It's odd though. Now that I've stopped denying it, I'm remembering different things about the Jahra. Well, not the history, the reason I was made this way, why they chose the person I replaced, or anything like that, but I'm noticing things. I can feel each of my hearts beating. I can tell what my life span is, and it's an awful lot longer then any human's. Maybe a full 1000 years. I can sense the energy in the air, and by concentrating I can use it for healing. I should be done in a few hours.

"Every time I blink or close my eyes, I see the room painted with energy. I can tell if someone is better at absorbing different energy types. Like that bloke in the corner. He's sucking in so much light energy it's a wonder it doesn't blind him, but I'd trust him to spot something for me any day, though I think if you tried to ask him a math question, he'd die before he could answer. And the girl he's sitting with. She has so much sound bouncing off her ears I'm surprised she can hear anything, yet she's got a good head.

"The weirdest thing though, is that if I think really hard, I can feel the planet move."

The Doctor gave her one of his looks. "That's not normal. No one can feel that outside of the Time Lords, no one." Leaning forward on his elbows, he looked hard at the red-head. He stared into her eyes which had reverted back into a dark emerald green color. "You are a puzzle. You're the first person I've met that can sense all the energy types at once. You're telepath and still a Jahra. You're completely Rahki but you don't really know what you are. Now you can feel the planet moving."

After staring back at him, she spoke again. "I think I'll settle on Kathryn Moore. Katie. Sounds like it would fit."

"What?"

"For my name. I can't very well go walking around in someone else's name, even if it is a nick-name. Bad enough I have her mind. I can at least use my own name." She drank some of her coffee, then made a face. "Not as good as the real stuff. And it's burnt. You'd think a replicator would make decent coffee."

"I don't see how you can drink that in any case."

"That's because you don't hang out with Americans. And you're wise not to. At least not the time period I was in. We-they, can be stupid beyond belief. They've had their good moments though. I don't really think any more will be coming, but in the past they did a few really worthwhile things."

"Why do you keep saying they? You can still call it your country, you just-"

"Aren't human anymore? It's alright Doctor. I need to face facts. I was living another person's life. Now that person is back and I'm happy for her. She deserves to be living her own life. I'm grateful I have her mind and not someone else's. I won't go back to that time period and place, if I can help it, because who knows what would happen. Yes, we're different bodies but the mind and memories are the same. Who knows what sort of paradoxes it would create if I met her? I would start a panic even if I didn't destroy time. People all over the place would start questioning if others are real, or if they were real. It would crush the family I was with, as well as the original's friends, to learn what had been really going on.

"It's not "my" country anymore. It's hers, and that's all there is to it."

"Where will you go?"

Katie was silent for a few moments. She gazed out the window. "First thing, I'm going to find some way to take my braces off. Second, I'm going to get a new set of clothes that can take a beating along with me, a few other supplies, and shove them in a backpack. Third…I'll figure out third when I get there."

The Doctor gave her a small smile. He didn't say it, but he understood that plan. He went through the same thing whenever he regenerated: Get used to new teeth, get a new set of clothes, then go where ever the solar winds might take him.

Katie sighed and stood up. She picked up the knife, still unwilling to leave it too far behind. "Well, Doctor, it's almost dawn. I should head back to my room before I get into too much trouble. Although…" she turned back towards him. "Do you know where my revolver went? I didn't see it when I woke up."

"Oh. I'm sure it's around. Somewhere. On the hospital grounds." Truth be told, the Doctor knew precisely where the gun was. As soon as the opportunity had presented itself, he had thrown the gun and the bullets into a small pond on the grounds. Far in the northwest corner of the grounds. Where the water was very, very deep.

Katie looked at the Doctor with mock annoyance.

"Doctor. I know you must hate the sight of that gun after I almost shot you, but I would really rather have it back. I like knowing I have some form of protection besides…well, what I already have."

"It's not "that gun" Kathryn. It's what guns are. They stand for violence and death. A girl like you should know that."

In a few swift movements, Katie was back at the table. She leaned down and her young, intelligent, fire-filled dark green eyes bored into his old, wise, care-worn brown ones. After a few moments of study, she spoke in a very low tone. It was biting, cold, and pain resounded through it.

"I do know that Doctor. I know exactly what guns are for. A gun killed someone I cared for very much. In turn, that same gun, that very same bullet, saved 2 immediate people, and countless others after. Guns aren't the evil Doctor. It's the stupid, stupid people who use them for stupid, stupid things. It's the idiots that use them to kill thoughtlessly, solely for the adrenaline rush you get when you kill, that make guns evil.

"I know exactly what they do. I know they are built to kill. I also know, looking into your eyes, I know that you know exactly what it is to kill, what it is to hold someone's life in your hands. You get a tremendous feeling of power and control. You get a rush from it. For one glorious moment, you feel amazing.

"Then sense comes crashing back in, and you realize what you were about to do or what you just did. You feel horrid about what you felt. But you must carry on. Sometimes, you have to kill the person anyway. Sometimes you have to be the one who carries the burden of wondering if you did the right thing, for the rest of your life. Others tell you that you were in the right, that they deserved it, that they're so grateful for what you did. But you are the only one who knows the truth."

Katie stood up slowly, never breaking eye contact with the Doctor. Looking at him, she said simply, "I don't care what you did with it. It's better gone."

Then she turned and walked off, leaving the Doctor with his thoughts.

* * *

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't care what the Jahra usually wear, I'm not putting that thing on."

"But you must! By law we have to return you once you are healed, and the Rahki prefer to have their test subjects clothed in the proper way."

"I'm not going back, and I am certainly not wearing that dress. Do you see all those layers? The thick fabric on the arms? And the headdress? I wouldn't be able to breathe without over heating, much less walk."

The newly-named Kathryn Moore was in a heated debate with one of the hospital staff over her wardrobe. While Katie had been planning on jeans, dependable yet smart boots, and a tee-shirt, the nurses had other ideas. Spread out on the bed before her lay a large, white dress. It was made of heavy wool, or a variation there of, and while Katie appreciated the modesty in the dress, she did not appreciate it of itself. The skirt had so many layers that it would have looked Elizabethan if there had been hoops to go with it. The sleeves were long, and the headdress came up from the neck to completely cover the head.

The nurse straightened up. She spoke though very tight lips. "Very well then. You will be placed under guard, and you are not to leave this room until your creators come to retrieve you. They should be here tomorrow morning. If, at any time you concede to put on the outfit provided and will submit yourself to the will of the Rahki, you will be permitted to walk about freely."

Katie looked at the nurse, her features frozen. "Read my lips: I will never wear that dress, I will not submit to the Rahki, I will get out, and when that stupid scientist comes to fetch me as though I were a lost shoe, you can tell him that if he wants his clones back, he shouldn't put them on Earth, and especially not in America. Now buzz off."

Looking snidely down her nose at Katie, the nurse answered her. "Food and water are available by the replicator on the wall. You will not be able to acquire anything else. Good day madam."

Katie sat on the bed, staring after her. She watched the door shut and seal closed. There were no windows in the room, and after trying to budge the door, she found it wouldn't open. "Great. Now what?"

* * *

"Matron Shravin, is that true?"

"Yes Doctor. The Jahra child ruthlessly attacked a member of my staff for no apparent reason. The poor thing is in a re-growth chamber at the moment, or I would let you speak to her. For now, child is locked in her room, awaiting an escort from the Rahki to come and retrieve her. They should be here in the morning."

The Doctor pondered all of this. "May I go in and see her?"

"Doctor, it might not be safe! You could be killed."

He gave the Matron a knowing smile. "No, not me. If she really is dangerous, I might be able to help her."

"I warn you Doctor, the child has begun to lose her mind. Not all of the poison left her system when you brought her in. She may see you as a threat, and is most certainly imagining things. She will not tell the truth."

"Yeah, I figured as much. Still, worth a try."

Matron Shravin gave the Doctor a warm smile. "I know it would be useless to try and stop you. You always did go where you pleased. Very well. I will take you there myself."

* * *

"Come on, nice little cover. Open for me. That's it, come on. Just a little farther, and-"

_Snap!_

Katie stared hard at the wall covering the controls to the replicator, as if that would open it. She knew that she could get whatever she might need, if she could just re-wire it to allow her access. But to do that, she had to get in first, and though the Grixzen dagger might prove useful at saving ones life, it wasn't doing very well at opening that panel. Every time she got it almost open, it would snap right back into place.

"Okay Kathryn Moore. What do you have available? What can you do now that you couldn't before? You have three hearts and larger lungs, but that doesn't do much good unless you were able to blow the panel off the wall.

"Your biggest asset seems to be that you can absorb energy, make new energy, and suck it right back in. How can you use that?"

After staring at the wall for a few more seconds, she thought she had it. "If I'm able to put energy to work fixing certain parts of my body, maybe I can control that same energy to melt the panel off the wall or something. No, if I did that the circuits would fuse." Katie snapped her fingers. "I know. I'll use sound to weaken the edges of the panel and take it off. Now how do I go about doing that?"

Katie closed her eyes. Instantly a perfect view of the room appeared in her mind. She saw the different energy types swirling around her before drawing close and disappearing. Focusing on only the blue, she imagined the sound gathering itself into a ball in front of her and staying there.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then all of the blue slowly started drifting closer without being drawn into her. Making a clicking sound with her tongue to add to the energy, all the blue soon formed a perfect sphere in front of her.

Her mind hurt but she kept going. Focusing on that energy, she moved her hand towards it. She pictured the energy settling into her hand, pulsing bright blue. While still viewing the room in energy, she reached out to trace the panel.

The door opened and the Doctor walked in, jarring her concentration. The sound rushed back into the room like the distant sound of a great drum.

Katie glared at the Doctor before she turned her back on him. She closed her eyes and tried to start over, but the Doctor started talking.

"What were you doing when I walked in?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"It looked an awful lot like you were about to use sonic energy to open that wall up, and I want to know how you did it and why."

"I did it," she said, turning around to face him, "by using human imagination, a bit of knowledge, and the assets given to me. You interrupted me on my first attempt. Could you please be quiet for my second go?"

The Doctor was silent for once as he watched. At first, it just looked like she was standing in the middle of the room with her eyes closed. Then she started making a clicking noise with her tongue as something blue started forming in front of her. He could hardly see it, but he heard it, and realized it was the sound of their quick talk, the sound of her tongue clicking, and other hospital noises.

_She's using all the sound in the room to create a ball of energy. But why? And how?_

While this thought dashed through the Doctor's mind, Katie slowly reached out towards the barely visible, very hearable thing. When she touched it, it disappeared, but her extraordinarily pale hand became a pale blue color. With eyes still closed and hand outstretched, she turned and traced the wall panel with her finger. Then she dropped her hand and opened her eyes.

"Now will you te-"

Katie held up a hand to stop the Doctor from talking. She whipped out the Grixzen dagger, stuck its tip in the top edge of the panel, pushed the handle against the wall and-

The panel came off the wall into her hands. She stared at it in disbelief, looked at the multitude of now visible switches, buttons, and wires for the replicator, and looked back at the panel.

"It worked. It actually worked."

"Why did you want access to the computer system?"

Katie's eyes gleamed mischievously as she put the panel down. "So that I could do…" She paused while she examined the multitude of buttons and switches. Her face lit up in a smile as she disconnected and reconnected a few wires, flipped one switch up, "So that I could do this," and pressed a button next to it.

"REPLICATOR RESTRICTIONS OFFLINE. FULL REPTLICATOR ACCESS GRANTED."

The Doctor looked at Katie in shock. She stared at the replicator with a pleasantly surprised look. "Wow." she said. "I wasn't sure that that would work. Still, now that it has, I can start packing. Computer, one 80-liter hiking backpack, circa Earth-year 2011, company North Face, design El Lobo 75, color black."

A tornado of energy particles swirled and became the backpack. Katie picked it up and examined it. "Perfect. Simply perfect. I've always wanted one of these."

"What are you doing?"

"It should be obvious Doctor. Apparently there's a law that says whoever finds a roaming Jahra, they're to send word to the Rahki so that the Jahra can be picked up. I've been locked in here because I told them I wouldn't go. Now that I have the replicator working the way I want it, I can get what I need and be on my way."  
"But how did you do that? You made a sonic screwdriver out of your finger, and within seconds you reprogrammed the computer to by pass the room security codes and work to its full capacity!"

"Computer, two space blankets, both circa Earth-year 2011, one 15 feet by 6 feet, grommets along edges every foot and at the corners, one 7 feet by 7 feet with nothing additional. Sonic screwdriver? Well, I suppose that's as good a name as any for something that opens things with sound. Not sure really. As for the computer, I don't know how I did that either. I just looked at the panel and the answer came to me. Now, Mr. Time Lord, I'm riding on a cloud of optimistic views at the moment, so are you going to stand there all day, or would you kindly leave so that I can finish my packing and get out of this hospital gown?"

"I'd almost say that you're mad, except that I'm seeing this happen. I am seeing this happen aren't I? You're actually there, I'm not looking at a clone of a clone or dreaming or something." The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and pointed it at Katie while circling her. "It says you're real, but you can't be. You've shown knowledge way beyond your age, the planet you were living on, and what you say you remember. Add that to everything else you've been up to and you're a literarily impossible thing. There's no way you can exist." He came very close to her and started examining her face, still moving the sonic screwdriver. Suddenly he reached out and placed his fingers on her temples. She felt him searching her mind, but didn't know how to push him out.

He started murmuring. "No. Oh that's clever. That's very clever. Your mind has been put into two different sections. All that is human is in the part of the mind you always access. The rest is locked away, all those things about your home planet, everything you might have once known, and should know now, is behind a well sealed door, but it's not perfect. There's just enough of a crack so that you can get to the stored information, but only what you need, when you need it, and only for that moment. Afterwards, you forget again." He let go of her head. "But why would they do that? What makes you so special?"

Katie crossed her arms and gave the Doctor the evil eye. "Okay. That's all fine and dandy, but at the moment I'm not so worried about that, and I would prefer you stay out of my head. Right now, I just want you to leave, then I plan to pry off my braces, get some supplies, a decent set of clothes, and a way out of this place. So as long as I can do what I need to do when I need to do it, a locked door in my head doesn't concern me."

"I can open it. It wouldn't be hard. It's only a door."

Interest mingled with fear flashed in Katie's eyes for just a moment. Then it was replaced with sarcasm. "Look, fly-boy. I hate to be rude, I really do, but I have lots of stuff to do, and I would rather not do it with a grown man standing in the room. Now scoot." She finished by waving her hands at him as if he were and insect.

The Doctor did something then that Katie would hate, yet respect him for for the rest of her life. He turned something on the screwdriver, held it up in the air, and pressed the button. Katie fell to the ground, her face twisted grotesquely in silent agony, her hands futilely covering her ears as she tried to block out a sound so high-pitched only she could hear it.

The Doctor turned off the screwdriver and knocked on the door. It opened and he stepped out. Katie never heard what he said.

Matron Shravin greeted the Doctor. "Doctor, are you quite all right? What happened to her? Are you hurt?"

"Matron Shravin, I'm afraid I have to agree with your previous statement. She is utterly, completely mad. On top of that, she's having hallucinations. It isn't safe for anyone to go in there, so best leave her alone. You made the right choice when you sent for the Rahki. I'll stay on long enough to be sure they get her safely on board, then I plan to leave."

"Should we do anything for the poor child? Do we need to send a sedative through the air vents to keep her from harming herself?"

"No, what's she's dealing with is best handled by staying awake. That's the only way for the poison to run its coarse. Don't add anything to that chamber, just make sure she has all the replicator energy she can possibly get. Her immune system will kick in and she'll be ordering things to help flush out the poison. Whatever you do, don't shut off that power, no matter how much she uses. If she doesn't get enough of the Grixzen venom out, she would become a threat to everyone, no matter who they were. Just let her rave in the room, and she won't hurt anyone."

"I understand Doctor."

The Doctor pretended not to notice the Matron's secret smile.

* * *

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*


	6. Chapter 6

"The stupid punk! The Doctor, is he? I'll give him need for a doctor. Next time I see him, I'm going to split his lip, then I'm going to give him a black eye, and worse! After that, I'll throw that jerk into his silly little TARDIS and give him a very long lecture on telling others about plans involving more people than just himself ahead of time. Then I'll have the nutcase take me someplace I can be out of history's way and still have an adventure. It's the least he owes me for what he did. My ears are still bleeding! The three-eyed, six-faced, four-tootheed son of a daft old lazy jackal! I'll set his ears to ringing, make no mistake."

Katie had been muttering to herself in this fashion for the past 5 hours, ever since her ears had recovered. Even before they had, she had resumed her work at the replicator with an increased energy, fuming against the Doctor the entire time. Her threats had decreased as her irritation ran its course, and she was now simply talking out of habit.

The first thing she ordered after he left had been a flat-head screwdriver, which she used to take her braces off.

But now, her bag was fully packed, and she had wasted no space. Tucked into the backpack was just about everything you would need to survive, and it was all top quality: Caffeine gum, Meals Ready to Eat(MREs), water purification tablets, extra bottles, a mug, a bowl, a spoon, and a fork; flint, matches for emergencies, small yet powerful binoculars, extra sunglasses, a hammer, a shovel that had a short handle yet a large head, a hatchet, a utility knife, pocket knife, and a sharpening stone for all of her bladed items. She had a few precious stones(some set and some not)for trading, extra clothes, a jacket, two blankets, a windbreaker, the space blankets, (one to sleep in and one to use as a tent) sun block, a medical kit that could be used for minor surgery in a pinch, a hairbrush and extra hair ties.

To name a few.

On her person, Katie carried the Grixzen dagger in a black sheath she had made for it. She had put the transporter in a dark green pouch she wore around her neck, for she was still loathe to let it go. Also around her neck was a watch she had designed to help her keep track of her age. It had a year, month, and day slot. She had a walking stick that had two collapsible blades on either end, and the stick itself could collapse to about a foot in length. On her belt, next to the dagger, was a pack that had enough MREs to last a day, some bandages, iodine, and two pictures she had grabbed from her locker on an impulse the day she left Earth. She had put these in a plastic cover, so that they would stay clean.

One of the pictures was of her mother, father, and brother the last time they were in Yosemite. She kept trying to force herself to think of them only as the humans she had lived with. They weren't really her family, Katie kept telling herself. They were the family of the person she had replaced. Still, she couldn't let the picture go.

The other was a picture of her 15th birthday party. Since her 16th would have landed on Easter, her parents had quietly gotten all of her really good friends together and surprised her on her 15th. They had taken her ice skating, and when she got there she found her only 3 real friends waiting for her. They had spent the day at the skating rink, then had dinner at a very nice restaurant, Le Café Rouge de Poivre, or in English, The Red Pepper Café. They had all stayed overnight at a hotel, then filled the next day with shopping, talking, and generally just being together. The picture was of her three friends and herself. It was a good picture, one that had been taken without the 4 of them being told to pose, yet it had all their faces and they were all laughing over something.

Katie took a shuddering breath. "No." she whispered. "No, that isn't me. It is, but it shouldn't have been. There's a copy of this someplace, the memories of that time in a file. Those are in the right person's head now. I am happy for her. I'm glad she's back where she ought to be. But oh, oh how I miss them."

She shook her head fiercely. "No. Stop it Kathryn, stop it right now. You are about to go live an amazing life, and you are going to travel to many, many different planets. The girl is back where she should be, and you are going to find the place you should be. And if you don't get moving, you're going to be forced to go back to those horrid Rahki and get turned into someone else. Now, shape up, stop crying, and get out of this room."

Katie looked about her. The air duct was too small for her, and with no windows the only way out of the room seemed to be the door. "I'll go through the door then. But how to do it? The control panel was fused when I tried breaking out the last time."

She spun slowly around again. The room hadn't changed any. Her stuff was still on the floor, the replicator was still in pieces, the computer was still in the same place on the wall, the air duct-

_Hold on…_ Katie looked at the computer. It was more of a small flat screen mounted into the wall, but it was still a computer. She walked over to it. _Maybe, just maybe, I can do something with this._

Speaking out loud this time, she addressed the computer. It worked on STAR TREK. Why not here?

"Computer, does the display screen in this room still work?"

"AFRIMATIVE," the clipped speech of the computer replied.

"Great! Okay, ah…what do I have access to?"

"PATIENTS ARE GRANTED ACCESS TO THE LIBRARY AND VIDEO RECORDS."

"Of course. Computer, does this hospital have a visual monitoring system?"

"AFFIRMATIVE."

Katie became worried. "Are the rooms monitored?"

"NEGATIVE."

"Oh, you don't know how wonderful that makes me feel. Who has access to the monitoring system?"

"MATRON SHRAVIN AND THE HOSPITAL'S HEAD OF SECURITY."

"Are the cameras constantly checked on?"

"AFRIMATIVE."

Katie thought about that for a moment. If the rooms weren't watched, no one had seen her. Yet. The moment she stepped out of the room, they would know what she was up to. She would have to shut off the cameras, at least for a while, while she made good her escape.

"Computer, show me the monitoring system access screen."

The image on the screen on the wall abruptly changed. Instead of the odd screen-saver thing that had been bouncing around, the screen now showed a log-in. Nothing special, just a log-in screen, with a user name and password.

"Computer, if this display screen has anything that can be used to type on, please show it."

A small slot under the screen opened and a flat keyboard slid out. Katie cracked her knuckles. "Now, lets see what happens."

Ten minutes later, she had sole access to the monitoring system. After checking in front of her room and seeing two guards, it took her two minutes to break into the intercom and use the walkie-talkie things they had to send them scurrying off to another end of the building. She pushed a few more keys and put the entire monitoring system out of commission. It would take them 2 hours minimum to figure out what had happened, plenty of time for her to escape. One more button pushed and the door to her room slid open.

_Computers: that was easy. Even if I have no clue how I did that…_She slung her backpack on and collapsed her walking stick before waltzing out the door. Her backpack was far lighter than she expected, though she wasn't surprised she could carry it easily. Having 3 hearts certainly helped with circulation, and in turn her muscles worked much better. She had been noticing things like that all day; her hearing was up (which would explain why the Doctor's sonic device had hurt her ears), plus she could see and smell better than before.

Making use of the map on the wall once again, she decided that the best way to get the delivery section would be to go past the central core. It was fine with her, as she wanted to stop by it anyway. The Doctor's story of her arrival had intrigued her, and she wanted to see if going to the central core would help her figure it out.

After she turned a few corners and walked down a couple of hallways, she froze, then darted into a nearby closet.

_It's not coming closer. Why not? Does it want me to come out first? I can hear it singing. No, I can't hear it. My ears aren't picking up the noise, it's my __**head**__. Perhaps it's brainwaves?_ She closed her eyes, and the small room immediately filled with colors. Unfortunately, the colors were faint, and growing dimmer. She figured that she had almost absorbed it all. _It's a rather odd song. I can't make out the words, and the tune is sad. Very, very sad. Something a slave might sing when everything has been taken from them, they're barely alive, and they're crying out for help. _A tear dropped to the floor. _What kind of agony must the writer have been in to create such a beautiful, pain-filled thing?_

Katie shook her head. She had to keep moving. The central core was nearby, and she wouldn't have much time to check it out.

The song grew stronger as slipped out of the closet and walked down the hall. Not louder, just stronger. As if the singer knew someone was listening and wanted her to hear it clearly.

The central core was nothing special to look at. She knew it was a power center-she had read that while on the computer-but she felt something else. Something odd. It was as though she was being pulled towards it. It gave her a sense of dread, pity, and anger, but also one of peace and safety. She reached out to touch it.

The squeak of wheels brought her mind back to reality. Looking around, she spied another closet and dashed towards it. _Drat! It's locked._ She closed her eyes and was momentarily relieved to find the area full of blue sound. Drawing it towards her as quickly as she could, she hurriedly used the sound to open the door. She slipped inside not a moment to soon, as a nurse with a cart came around the corner. It was full of clear canisters, all empty.

_Whew! That was close. At least this closet has a window, albeit a small one. I hope she leaves soon._

Unfortunately, yet luckily, she didn't. After looking around, the nurse pushed a spot on the core that looked precisely like the rest of it. The difference was that just beneath that spot a square green area, maybe 1 ft x 1 ft, started to glow. The nurse rapidly pushed several spots on the glowing pad, and a section of the core slid open, revealing an empty space. She wheeled the cart into the core, pushed a button, and the door slid back into place, leaving the core looking precisely as it had before.

_Wow. An elevator. A very secret, suspicious elevator._ Seeing no one else, Katie quietly pushed the door open and walked over to the core. She stood for a moment, staring at it._ I should probably leave it alone. Yeah. I should walk away now, before I do something stupid. _She turned and took a single step before glancing over her shoulder. "Oh forget this," she said to no one. Slinging off her pack backpack, she pressed the spot she had seen the nurse press, and the glowing square came back. She rubbed her hands together and crouched down to get a better look at it.

There seemed to be no pattern what so ever to the buttons and commands. It didn't help that she couldn't read a single word, unlike when she had been breaking into the monitoring system. Whenever she thought she was in, she found herself at the opening screen again. Solutions didn't come forth from her mind. She had no answers this time.

Footsteps behind her had her reaching for the Grixzen dagger.

"I thought I would find you here. Do you need any help?"

Slowly turning, Katie stood up and looked into the Doctor's smiling face. Calmly, ever so calmly, she walked up to him.

Before the Doctor had time to even think about what had happened, he was laying on the floor with a cut lip and a sore jaw. One of his teeth felt loose. He glanced up and saw Katie watching him. He hopped up easily enough, but she still didn't move. "Did I break some American code of etiquette by speaking to you?"

"No. You simply made my ears bleed, and left them ringing so loudly I couldn't get up for a good 15 minutes. So, I gave you a cut lip. I could have done worse, but hey, at least you didn't tell anyone what I was doing, so I left it at that." She whirled around and crouched again, returning to her work.

The Doctor bent over her shoulder and put his glasses on. He could easily read the language, and see what needed to be done, but it was obvious Katie didn't. "You're sure you don't need help."

Sighing, she sat back on her heels. "Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing. I can't even read what this thing says. It's a pain, because I'm horribly curious as to where it goes." She glanced sideways at him. "I don't suppose Time Lord's have some sort of high-tech space-computer lock-pick that would help in this instance."

He reached into his pocket. "Not exactly, but I do have a universal tool that does just about everything." He pulled out the sonic screwdriver, and was once again unprepared for Katie's reaction.

She flipped backwards and did a hand-spring to help her stand up. Her dagger was out and she held it as though to throw it, and she was staring with veiled terror at him.

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he straightened up. He looked rather annoyed. "Oh, what is it now?"

"If you use that thing I swear I'll give you worse then a cut lip."

His eyes widened, first in confusion, then in comprehension. "OH! You mean the sonic. It's perfectly harmless-"

She chuckled mirthlessly. "Yeah, I know how harmless it is. You put that away now."

"If you mean that little episode back in your room, that was a one-time thing. I don't use this as a weapon. Well, there was that one time. And that other circumstance. And those other few occasions. But otherwise never."

Katie blinked in stunned silence. She lowered the dagger. "Sometimes…sometimes I wonder." Abruptly putting the dagger back in its sheath, she addressed the Doctor again. "So. How it that thing supposed to get into that computer?"

He pointed it at the screen with a flourish. "Just like this."

The elevator door slid open. "Ladies first."

* * *

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*


	7. Chapter 7

"Overview Balcony or Ground Work?" Katie pointed at the two buttons on the wall inside the elevator. "Overview Balcony looks like the one least used, so I'd vote for going there."

"Now what fun would that be, not walking right into the middle of something? Always better with the direct approach."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Without knowing what's going on? At all? Something big, and probably illegal is happening, and I don't want to get shot if I walk out into the middle of it."

"Yeah, I suppose that makes sense." The Doctor pressed the Overview button and the door slid closed. The computer's voice came out of the air.

"ESTIMATED TRAVEL TIME: 6 MINUTES AND 30 SECONDS."

"Rather long trip, wouldn't you say," Katie asked the Doctor.

"It is."

A minute passed with the only sound being the hum of the elevator.

"So, Doctor…any family?" Katie questioned.

"No. Not anymore. It's just me now."

"903 years old, and you don't meet people. Yeesh, you need to get out more."

His eyes spoke of secrets untold. "I never said I didn't meet anyone. I just said I didn't have family."

"Ah."

Another 30 seconds went by.

The Doctor broke the silence this time. "What did you pack in that thing?"

"Anything and everything I could possibly need. I mentioned before I can feel that I'm going to live for a really long time. I figured I would need some stuff for traveling."

"Any place you were planning to go to?"

Katie shrugged. "Not really. I was going to head to the supply dock after this, and either stow-away or somehow pay for passage. It doesn't matter where, as long as it's somewhere the Rahki aren't."

"If you're in such a hurry to get away, why did you stop here?"

"Meh. Curiosity I guess. You told me the way I had acted when I first came here. I wondered why it was so important. I also saw someone go in, and I decided to follow." She looked at him. "Why did you stop?"

Humor laced the Doctor's words. "I figured you needed someone to keep an eye on you, considering your usual greeting."

She smiled. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Are you really 903? You certainly don't look it."

"Yes. Time Lords live far longer than any other race."

Katie chewed over that for a moment. "If you've truly lived that long, you must have seen just about everything."

His face lit up in a curious way, as if he were a parent telling a child a marvelous story. "Not yet. The universe is bigger and holds more wonders than you can ever imagine. And that's for just one moment. I can go anywhere, any when, and see anything. I don't know if I'll ever finish seeing it all."

"Does the universe have a language everyone shares, or do you have to learn them all?"

The Doctor looked nonplussed. "Language? I've just told you about all the possibilities the universe holds, and you ask about language?"

"Language is a wonder in itself. I assume you're speaking English because you learned it, not because it's the language of the Time Lords, and you probably learned it because you wanted to. In 903 years of living, you must have picked up a few forms of communication. How many have you learned?"

He ran a hand over his hair. "Ah…I couldn't say really. I speak every language, and if I happen across something I don't speak, the TARDIS translates it for me."

Her eyes widened. "Every language? Wow. I only know five, and that's if you count English as a language."

"Five? You're only 15! Where did you find time to learn four new languages?"

"You have to learn Spanish in high school, and the other 3 were ones I wanted to learn anyway. It's one of my gifts. I pick up on them easily. I was going to start on Japanese, but then I got teleported to your ship. Thought I should try a different region of the world to learn from. So far, I've been mostly focusing on Europe. You know, French, Gaelic, Hebrew. I know how to write them too. It's great fun."

The Doctor put his glasses on and looked at her like a scientist with a new bug. Katie leaned away from him. "You know," she said, "that's a bit creepy. Do you mind just asking whatever the question might be, instead of looking at me like that?"

"You're certain you're only 15?"

"A person can do a lot in 15 years if she puts her mind to it. My neighbor started teaching me Bojuka at age 5 when she caught me trying to mimic her, and I hit Skill Level Four last year. I was working on Skill Level Five, but my pa- I mean, my boarders made me stop. At age 8, I was taught to fire a revolver. I learned knife throwing on my own last year. I just fit languages, school, and survival stuff in around it all."

"Why?"

Her brow winkled. "Why what?"

"You sound like you were in training to be a soldier. Why?"

Katie blinked in confusion. "I don't know. I just wanted to, I guess. Maybe I felt like I was supposed to. I just don't know."

"But why would-"

"APPROCHING OVERVEIW DECK."

"Finally. Took long enough." Katie adjusted her backpack. "How deep do you think we are?"

"There's no way of knowing."

"Isn't it exciting?" Katie's eyes shone with unconcealed joy. "We don't know what will happen, or what we'll see when the door opens. It's like Christmas morning when you're four, only better."

Behind her back, the Doctor smiled. He knew the feeling. He got it every time the TARDIS took him to a new place. Fear, joy, wonder, he got all that. That was why he kept going, even after all those years.

The elevator stopped and the door slid open. Katie and the Doctor stepped out onto a dark stone balcony. There was nothing but the view.

As far as the eye could see, trees stretched out in an orchard. They resembled walnut trees in winter; cold, dead, leafless. Snow was gently falling, and the room was freezing. Workers walked through the trees, stopping every so often to gather the snow into a container, prune a branch, or tap a tree to gather sap.

"Doctor, do you-"

"Yeah. I hear it."

The song was in the room. The elevator had stopped it somehow, but it was here. Full of mental anguish, physical pain, death, and things Katie had no words to. She could hear every note, but none of the words. It was as though she was listening though a wall, and though the music reached her, whatever the words said were out of reach. Tears ran down her cheeks, but she didn't bother to hide them.

"What are they saying Doctor? Can you hear the words?"

"I only hear the music, and that just barely. It's distant, but there."

She looked at him sharply, disbelief warring with anger. "How can you not hear it? It's as clear as a newly washed window. The singer is here, but the words…the words are covered somehow. Like a shape under a blanket. You can guess, but you don't know." Her face melted into grief. "Doctor, please. Can't you make the music stop? I can't think. I can't see anything but the music."

"Here." He reached out and placed his fingers on her temples. The moment he did so, he heard the song in full force. Gasping, he let go. It was the first time someone else had heard something stronger than he had. He was always opening the door for others, and wasn't used to hearing things through another's mind. He tried to breathe, thankful that, for once, he didn't have to hear a song so clearly. It was the most heart-rending thing he had ever heard.

Katie was still crying. "Doctor, please. I want to help the singer, but I can't until the music stops. Please."

Stealing himself, he placed his fingers on either side of her head. Forcing himself to move around the music, he told Katie to imagine a door closing. "Picture the music on the other side of the door." Slowly, ever so slowly, the music receded until it was put away. She could still hear it, just not as loudly. He released her as she took a deep breath.

"Thanks. I can think again." Sniffing once, she dried her eyes. "So. Now that we can both concentrate, what do you think is going on?"

The Doctor turned back to the scene below. "I don't know. The place looks perfectly well cared for. The people here even change things with the seasons."

"Maybe the trees mean something to someone down here," Katie observed. "Perhaps they're a kind of tree that grows on just one planet, one that's gone now, and only one person from that place survived, so they sing to remember." She leaned on the edge of the balcony rail, staring at the orchard.

The Doctor was surprised at her thoughts. It was a perfectly reasonable hypothesis, but it showed a maturity and wisdom he hadn't seen in a human so young before. _Then again,_ he thought, _she isn't human. That might have something to do with it. But she lived on earth for 15 years. America Earth! And she hasn't accessed her implanted memories, or she would be doing everything she possibly could to return to the Rahki. Either that or she would be trying to kill me._

"Look!" Katie's voice pulled him out of his musings. She was pointing down at the workers. "They seem to be finishing whatever it is their doing. They'll be leaving soon. When they're gone, we can go down and see if we can't figure any of this out."

"It will take awhile for them to all leave. The lift isn't that big…" The Doctor commented.

"Perfectly alright with me." Katie took off her backpack and sat down. Searching through it, she pulled out some bottled water and two MREs that were supposed to be lasagna dinners. "I hope you don't mind braving these things with me. They aren't as good as the real thing, but they're passable for being packaged."

The Doctor smiled slightly and sat down across from her. "Whatever they taste like, they can't possibly be as bad as Parovin Meat pies."

She handed him his meal and a fork. "Parovin? What sort of place is that?"

He opened his package as she did the same. "The planet itself is actually called Paro. It has the most amazing views you could imagine, and the people are perfectly wonderful, but the food is atrocious. After my first time, I swore I would never go again with out a sack lunch."

The rest of the meal was filled with stories as Katie learned of the wonder filled life the Doctor led.

* * *

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily received, flames not wanted*


	8. Chapter 8

"Took long enough. How many do you think there were?"

"At least a hundred." The Doctor answered her. Katie was now wearing a coat that looked horribly thin for the temperature, but she claimed she was perfectly fine.

"Do we take the elevator or try and climb?" she asked. "The wall seems to be rock. It should have plenty of handholds."

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Right. No climbing. Gotcha." She looked back at the orchard below. "You've done this more often then I have. How do you usually go about finding a miserable bard?"

Leaning on the rail, he also searched the view for any hint of the mysterious singer. "Follow the music. We listen and see where the music takes us." He turned around and faced her, regarding her as though she was a new riddle he couldn't quite solve. "How can you hear it? It's one thing to send your thoughts to someone who already has a psychic ability, but to hear the music of another race…? That's entirely different. And to hear it stronger than I can, that's just…"

"Impossible?" It was Katie's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Doctor, I have no idea how I do it. Maybe it has something to do with purple brain energy, or maybe it's a leftover trace of my human cells gone mutant. I simply don't know. Perhaps after we solve this puzzle, you can use some kind of Time Lord gizmo to figure it out. Until then, accept the fact I can hear the song, and keep moving."

The Doctor stood up. "Right then. Allons-y!"

Katie smiled. "You take the elevator-sorry, the lift. I want to test out my awesome new alien muscles. After 15 years of restrictive humanness, I want to see what this form is like. Not sure if you would get that, but anyway. I'll see you down below!" With that, she flipped over the ledge. A second later, she popped back up.

"Yeah, sorry, could you take my backpack? Thanks." Then she was gone again.

The Doctor shook his head, though a faint smile was on his face. He hadn't told her about how he could regenerate, but he understood what she meant by 'wanting to see what her form was like'. It was worse when you lived as a human then came back. Regenerations were still Time Lord form to Time Lord form. When he had had to become human to hide from the Family of Blood, after he returned to Time Lord form the first place he had taken Martha was a planet famous for outdoor sports.

Dragging Katie's backpack behind him, he stepped into the lift and pressed the button for the Ground Work. He groaned mentally when the computer informed him that the trip would take a full minute.

_Ah well. It's a short amount of time, I can stand it. How does she do it though? She must have been designed with the energy gathering, but why? What purpose would that serve? Something that strong would have been present even while she was human. _

_Of course! Why didn't I see it? That would explain why she practiced and learned all those years! The energy had to go somewhere, so she put it into everything she could think of; fighting, learning, training, anything that would use the energy! _

_It still doesn't explain the why. What would the Rahki want with an energy gatherer? Certainly not as a weapon, they have those already. A random experiment? No, they're far too organized. Maybe she's the first of a new breed, and they plan to sell them. Nah, the Rahki aren't slavers. Mad scientists maybe, but not slavers._

"APPROACHING GROUND WORK."

_Already?_

The lift door slid open just in time for the Doctor to see Katie springing from rock to rock like a cat. When she got close enough, she leapt out towards a tree branch. He could see she was going to reach it, and was surprised to find he was slightly proud of that fact.

_I must be getting soft in my old age._

A pained gasp brought his attention back to Katie. She was crumpled on the ground, her hands held against her chest as though they had been burned.

_What now?_ thought the Doctor as he walked over to her. Out loud, he said, "What happened? Did you cut yourself?"

She looked up at him, confused horror filling her face. "It's the trees Doctor. The song is coming from the trees."

* * *

"Are you sure?"

"Positive Doctor. When I touched that branch, I heard the song again, in full force. Even the words came through clearly. My hands felt like they were melting from heat, but had become blocks of ice too. I let go immediately, but I know what I heard."

"What were the words to the song?"

She gingerly moved her hands. They were badly scorched, and bright purple blood was leaking out in several places. She would have to care for them soon. "I was only in contact long enough to hear one word. Maybe it was a phrase, I don't know. It was in a language I haven't heard."

He crouched down and looked her in the eye. "Could you try to repeat it?"

Katie closed her eyes, though not all the way. She spoke a single word. It was beautiful and light, but carried a dark heaviness in it. The Doctor's eyes widened. "Say that again." She did.

The Doctor sat back in the snow, shock written on his face. "Doctor? Doctor what is it?"

He looked into her eyes, not out of affection, but to try to make her understand how serious the situation was. "I told you before that there was no one language the universe shared."

"You never actually said that." Katie cut in. "You didn't even hint at something like that."

"Kathryn, that's not the point. The universe does have one shared a language, but everyone has forgotten it. Well, except me. I'm the last one to speak it. That's what I thought, until now." Katie was starting to get worried. "What did they say Doctor?"

"You don't actually have a word for it. It can't be translated into your language. But it's basically the universe's code for the Earth's SOS signal, only far worse. It's only used when something drastic is happening, like the torture or genocide of an entire race."

Katie's eyes widened in understanding. Fear flickered across her face, then was replaced by a cool determination. "Right then. What do we have to do to stop it?"

The Doctor's mouth twitched into a momentary half-smile. "That's what I like about humans. Always ready to get right to work." He held up his hand to stay her protest. "I don't want to hear about how you aren't human. As long as you keep that door in your mind that leads to your Jahra side closed, you might as well be human.

"First thing we have to do is look at your hands. It might help me see how the trees defend themselves. From there, I'll be able to narrow down the list of places these trees come from."

Katie held out her hands. When she saw them she gasped. "They're healed! Nothing's wrong! No cuts, no burns, nothing! But how does that work? I wasn't thinking about energy, they couldn't have healed that fast without me thinking about it. Could they? Maybe I imagined it." She looked down at the snow. There were two prints where her hands had been, but nothing else. Not even a drop of blood. She wrinkled her forehead, and sat staring for a moment or two. Picking up some snow, she abruptly ate it.

"Oy! What are you doing?"

She swallowed the snow. "Sorry, it was an idea I had, and it seems to be right. I'm not sure how or why though. Give me a moment." Katie bounced up and trotted a few feet away as the Doctor stood up. He quickly joined her as she rolled up her sleeve and pulled out the Grixzen dagger.

In one swift movement, Katie had sliced her arm long ways. It was a rather deep cut too.

"Now this is one thing I am not having. Give me that knife now."

She wordlessly passed it over to him and she bent down and picked up a handful of snow. Swiping it down her arm, she stared hard at it.

"Doctor, tell me I'm not going crazy."

"I can't do that because I don't know about myself anymore."

Where her arm should have had a nasty cut, worthy of stitches, she had only a faint scar, and even that was rapidly receding.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Underlying fear trembled in Katie's voice. "Whenever I blink, the room has no color. Absolutely nothing. The trees are a sick, white shade, like they have nothing left in them. You and I hardly send any energy out. And the snow…the snow is black. Completely devoid of any energy. No, that isn't right. It's as though…as though the snow is a sponge, and it's pulling every speck of energy right into it, and holding it. How does it do that Doctor? I use my energy. The snow holds it."

The Doctor solemnly stared at Katie. "I don't know. But I know what we need to do."

"What?"

"Go back and try to talk to that tree."

* * *

20 minutes later, the Doctor was having no luck at talking to the tree. Speaking verbally hadn't worked, no matter how many languages he tried. Trying to speak to it psychically hadn't done any good. It hadn't even affected him when he touched it, a fact that Katie wasn't sure whether to be offended or relieved about.

At the moment, the Doctor was walking around the tree with his glasses on while Katie leaned on her walking stick.

She called out to him. "You know, you could let me try again. I was able to get through last time."

He whipped off his glasses and pointed at her sternly. "We've been over this. I'm not going to let you get hurt. No, there has to be another way in." Putting his glasses back in his pocket, he pulled out the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the tree. The high pitched vibrations bounced through the room.

Katie closed her eyes, watching the sound waves. While everything else in the room, especially the snow, scared her a bit, the sonic waves were pretty, the way they lit up the tree trunk was very nice, and-

_Hang on…tree trunk?_ She focused her energy eye, as she was starting to call it, on the tree's trunk. It had started to turn blue, like it was absorbing the sound. However, it was also flickering, as if it were a candle about to go out. The Doctor turned off the screwdriver and ran his fingers through his hair. Blue flashes of light came from his mouth as he groaned.

"I just don't know. I've tried just about everything. I'm not even sure what they are. Tree-like species abound, but none that would be here, not on this scale. There doesn't seem to be anything special, they're-"

"Doctor, pull out your…whatever it is. The noise thing. Start using it, I think I saw something."

Wordlessly, he did as she asked, though his face showed nothing about how he might feel. The trunk acted the same way it had before.

"Okay, now walk closer, then go backwards again." As the Doctor neared the trunk, the blue on it grew brighter and lasted longer, though it still faded quickly. Katie's eyes popped open. "It's energy."

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets, annoyance coming off him in waves. "Kathryn, I know you must be fascinated by all this, but this is real. If you really did-"

"Doctor! You don't need to treat me like a child. I get the idea. Maybe I have just figured out that I can sense energy, maybe I am practically a new-born next to your 900 years of experience, but I'm not trying to fool around or make light of what's going on. I heard that song, I know what they're feeling, and I'm telling you, that tree reacts to the sound that comes off your screwdriver. Now does that help you in your deductions?"

His eyes grew wide, and she could see the wheels turning. Then he started talking so fast she could hardly make out the words.

"Ah, of course! It's been staring me right in the face! These aren't trees, they're energy beings! This is just their current shape, or at least the one they were caught in. And the snow, it's a perfect sponge, sucking up all the energy but giving none back! That's why this hospital does so well at curing diseases, they have an energy farm down here." The Doctor paused and stared into the distance, as if recalling something. "What is it with the hospitals I visit and secret cure sources?" He returned to his rapid fire explanation. "But these creatures, they have to have energy to survive. Everything gives off energy, so they would essentially be forced to stay alive. Not having enough of it would be like you having no oxygen while being stabbed in the heart, branded, and still living. It would be the worst kind of fate. That's why that tree essentially bit you when you touched it. It was defending itself. But in a last desperate attempt to get someone's attention, they started singing."

Katie cut in, her mind racing to keep up with the Doctor. "And because they are energy, that would be how they communicate, so I ended up receiving the message full force, while you only heard snippets of it."

The Doctor beamed at Katie like a proud parent. "Right. Now, the next step would be to save them. In order to do that, we have to give them back their energy. And the only way to do that is to-"

"Doctor!" He looked over to where Katie was waving her arm. "I think this environmental control should do the trick."

"You're getting into a bad habit of interrupting me."

"Sorry. But all we have to do is melt the snow-stuff. It healed my hands and arm when it melted, so I just turn up the temperature dial like this, push this button here and-" She turned to smile at the Doctor. He could see the joy in her eyes. "Save the trees."

"You sound like a radical tree hugger from Earth."

She gave him a look of mock-annoyance. "Don't get me wrong, I love hikes in the woods, but I'm not about to hug those trees. They hurt."

"No, they heal, which is precisely why you will both step away from those controls. How did you get down here?"

* * *

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily received, flames not wanted*


	9. Chapter 9

"What is it with females and guns? Do human women have some special attraction to them I'm not getting?"

"Well, back in America in the 21st century, they work an awful lot better than pepper spray. She's human?"

"They're a bit on the deadly side though. What's wrong with pepper spray? If you get the right brand, you can do a lot of things with it. Yeah she's human. She looks it, doesn't she?"

"With pepper spray you have to aim it at the right spot. You shoot with a gun and you get a reaction where ever it may hit. Speaking of which, what kind is she using? And don't assume something's human by the way it looks. You and I look human too, but we aren't."

"How should I know about guns? I don't make a study of them. All I know is that they kill. No, you look Time Lord, we came first."

"Oh, come on, you can't even guess? Is it heat, or sound, or light or what? And don't you dare say it's a ray gun or I will hit you. If you want to get all picky about cosmetics, I'll introduce you to a classmate of mine whose going into plastic surgery."

"I'm not interrupting the two of you, am I?"

Katie and the Doctor turned to look at Matron Shravin. She was holding something that was about the same size as a semi-automatic, but was perfectly seamless, as though it had been molded from a single piece of metal. At the moment, it was pointed at the two of them. She waved it.

"I said, move away from the controls, or I will shoot you."

"Alright. No need to get pushy, we're moving." The Doctor glanced over at Katie. "Is she related you or something? Just as rude."

"Don't even start Doctor."

"Actually, I think the Doctor should start." Matron Shravin's voice was like the crack of a whip. "I want to know how you found this place."

"I just followed her. She's the one who figured out where the entry panel was, I just cracked the code."

Katie scoffed. "Well thanks for pinning it all on me. You're the one with the experience, it's still my first go. Couldn't you take the blame for this one?"

"Nah, best way to learn is to throw yourself right in."

"I'm going to throw both of you in a acid bath if you don't shut up!" Matron Shravin took a few moments to reign in her temper. "Okay, here's how this is going to work. I'm turning the temperature down. Doctor, I want you against that tree. Girl, sit out of reach of the Doctor but don't touch any trees. If you were the one to find this place I don't want you starting anything. The three of us are going to have a nice quiet talk."

* * *

"Start talking girl. How did you get out of the room, and how did you manage to jam the monitoring system?"

"You jammed the monitors?"

"Shut it Doctor! I don't care if I have to shoot you."

Katie had seemingly ignored this exchange. "First, my name is Kathryn Moore, but you can call me Miss Moore, I don't think you deserve the honor of calling me anything else. Second, I got out of my room by using mad skillz." She wiggled her fingers in the air with a sarcastic manner. "Third, I used those same talents to break the monitors. You got a problem with that?"

"This computer system is the most sophisticated available. You can't just hack into it."

Katie crossed her arms in a self-satisfied manner. "Well, I did. Any other stupid questions, or is it my turn to ask some of the important ones?"

"How did you know to come to the central core? There are no records of this place anywhere, except in the minds of trusted staff."

"Don't be daft woman. You saw how I reacted to it when I first got here. I wanted to take a peek at it on my way out, then saw one of your ladies opening the thing. I just had to stop and see what the fuss was about. I knew it would cause a stir." Uncrossing her arms and leaning backwards on them, she addressed the Doctor. "Do you think I caused a stir?"

"Oh most definitely."

"Would you two shut up? You really do know how to pick 'em Doctor. They always talk as much as you do."

The closer the Doctor watched the Matron, the more he realized that she wouldn't be able to shoot either of them. She kept looking away, and she held the gun as though she hated it. Matron Shravin was a nurse, a healer. She cured pain. She didn't inflict wounds. Looking at Katie, the Doctor said, "I don't really pick my companions. They chose me, more often then not."

Katie laid one of her hands on her knee and started tapping her pointer finger in an uneven beat.

Matron Shravin spoke again, her attention focused on the Doctor. "I assume both of you have figured out how this place works, what it's for."

The Doctor shifted his attention from Katie to the Matron. "Yeah, just about."

"Alright then." Matron Shravin lifted her gun again, this time with certainty shining in her eyes. "I hoped I wouldn't have to do this, but you leave me no choice."

The Doctor stood up, his hands held in front of him. "Okay okay, I know you'll still end up shooting me in the end, but at least let me die happy. The trees, how did they get here?"

"The first one came to us on its own. We didn't know anything about it, we couldn't even talk to it at first, but a tree is a tree. We treated it like a tree. In thanks, it gave us a small twig from its branches, barely a foot long, to help cure an epidemic that was occurring on a nearby planet. That one twig saved 10,000 people.

"The rest was very easy. The tree had no place to go, so we offered it a perfect home down here. It agreed that it would help us heal others in exchange. But the tree kept growing. It spread its roots out across this room, and grew new trees. At first it was wonderful. We were able to save anyone that came to us. Then, when the tree had almost outgrown this place, we feared it would leave in search of a new home, so we dropped the temperature over night, forcing it to approach the brink of death. I made the snow, and we started to shower it down on the trees, pulling the energy out of them. Now we just gather the snow and use it in our medicines."

The Doctor's eyes had grown hard. "What did you use to give the snow its absorbent properties?"

"Come now Doctor. Someone as clever as you should already know that. Everything in the universe absorbs some form of energy, somehow. I simply found a way to add that trait to snow. The only difference is, the snow doesn't use up the energy it pulls in. It stores it until we can find better uses for it."

Katie's head snapped up. "Better? You're stealing life from one race and putting it into anyone that comes along! You don't even have the decency to kill them quickly! They're alive, you stupid idiot! Don't you hear them? You're torturing them!"

Matron Shravin fired at Katie. She smartly rolled to the side and turned, just in time to see the gun's blast hit the spot where she had been. A burst of flames came up, and the snow started rapidly melting, exposing a severed black tube. Pale colors poured out of it.

"You gotta love agriculture!" Katie said. "Doesn't change wherever you may go. I knew you would have to feed these trees somehow. Now the food supply is going up, and you can't stop it!"

The Doctor smiled like a kid in a candy shop. "Now that was smart."

Katie nodded, also smiling. "It was good, wasn't it?"

"You stupid girl!" The Matron fired again. "Do you know what you've done? It's going to wake up. It will kill us all!"

Katie dodged the blast again, coals smoldering in her eyes as she replied. "You're the one whose been slowly bleeding them dry! How long have you been stealing their life? Ten years, twenty? Well, it's not going on any longer." Sprinting to the control panel on the wall, she quickly flipped up a switch. The colors burst from the severed tube with renewed vigor. All the trees near it were starting to glow, their trunks blue, the branches red. The buds and leaves that began to appear were purple and green. The new life was visible. The song came up again, louder than before, no longer sad, but changed to fit their re-birth.

Matron Shravin screamed in horror. She dropped to her knees, quivering. Katie walked towards her, accusations pouring from her lips. "You didn't even know their name! You don't even know their species and you tried to murder them! You used them as slaves! You forced them to go through agony, just to cure a few people." Stopping in front of her, Katie picked up the gun and pointed it at the Matron's head.

The Doctor took a step towards her. "Kathryn don't!"

Katie ignored him. She addressed her comments only to the Matron, fury boiling out of her eyes, her voice hard and unrelenting. "Why should I let you live? What right do you have to go on after what you've done?"

"I'm sorry! Please, just don't kill me, I'll do whatever you ask, just don't kill me! Please!"

"You didn't answer my question! What right do you have to live after what you did to this species? What right do you have?"

Matron Shravin was silent. Then, a whisper. "I don't."

"Say it again."

The Matron's head came up, her face covered in tears. "I have no right to live after this. I knew what I was doing. I even heard the song, the first time we froze them, and again when we started to drain their only source of life. I knew their pain, and I did nothing. I have no right to live!" The Matron curled up, her body quaking with sobs, waiting for death.

The room, though bursting with song and summer, felt cold. The Doctor could only watch, helpless, as Katie stood unmoving with the gun pointed at the Matron's head. She was breathing hard, and the Doctor worried that there might be a death after all.

Then her face softened, just a bit. Katie turned and threw the gun far off into the trees. She knelt down and placed her hand on the Matron's back. "I would never kill you. It's not my place to condemn or execute. You've done horrid things, but when all is said and done, I've committed worse acts. You will have to tell everyone the things you did, and I'm sure this planet will try you as you should be, but I really think it's for your victims to decide." She nodded in the direction of the Doctor, but was looking past him. He turned to see what it was.

A woman was walking towards the group. She was humanoid, but her colors matched those of the trees, and she was slightly translucent. Everything about her kept changing, the colors always swirling, her hair blowing. She appeared very, very old, and very, very young. She looked precisely the way Katie had imagined a dryad would look.

"I speak for my people." The woman's voice was like a flame in water, warm and comforting, deadly and mysterious. "Identify yourselves, our rescuers."

* * *

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm the Doctor. I have the authority to speak for this place."

"We have heard tales of the Last Lord of Time, Doctor, and we are honored that you should come to us. But who is this young child that is so different from others we have seen?"

Katie slowly stood. She walked forward to stand next to the Doctor, leaving the Matron behind. For the first time, Katie looked like the 15 year old she was, still young and unsure. The Doctor clasped her hand, trying to give her support. "My name's Kathryn Moore. I'm from Earth, I think."

"Titles of the young mean little to a race as old as ours. Who are you? How is it that you take in the breath of the universe, yet do not send it out? Why do you behave far wiser than your young mind suggests?"

"I-I don't really know, ma'am. I have only just learned of my…" Katie paused while searching for the proper word "ability, to absorb energy. Maturity is, I suppose, something that each person must learn on their own, and I was simply given the opportunity to learn."

"It is true that many do not grow beyond the cruel joy of tearing wings off of insects, just to watch them writhe in pain. How did you come to be here?"

"I was on Earth, and I was attacked. Then I just found myself with the Doctor, and he brought me here. I tired to leave, but then I heard your song. I followed it."

"Beg pardon for interrupting, but may I ask who you are? I can't quite place you, and for me that's quite a feat."

The woman turned her attention towards the Doctor. "There are many people and worlds you have not yet seen, Doctor. We are the E'akru. We are one mind, one body, yet we are separate, each with their own thoughts, hidden from the others, but with no secrets in our race. Like our form, we are all one, connected by the same root, and we are each our own."

"How did you get here? Someone like you shouldn't get injured, not with so much energy bouncing around the universe."

"Another people came to us with words of friendship, but they had evil in their hearts. They coaxed us into their world, and stole our life, though they had the decency to do it swiftly. I was able to escape, and discovered I was hurtling through space with no way to control it. I could not get enough life to truly live. I fell onto this planet, and was cared for. With the rest of my people gone, I decided to stay and help the dying. This place was perfect, so I began to grow others. My race returned, and then the ones we thought were our friends again turned on us. Our life was once again stolen, but this time with agonizing slowness, so we sang, hoping someone would hear us one day. We thank you Doctor, for bringing this small one here, for without her, we may have been lost."

The E'akru woman turned once again to Katie. She walked close, bent down, and looked into her eyes. "You say you are from Earth, but that is not your race, Jahra child. Earth is no longer your home, but it is the planet that raised you. It did so well. For one so young, you have done much, and I see that you have faced many things. More will come, for you have much to accomplish. There will be perils in your life, but it will be tempered with joy."

The E'akru woman straightened. "And now we come to the jailer, the holder of the prison keys, the warden of the torture cell."

Matron Shravin, who had been watching the conversation, starting shaking again. Her eyes grew wide at the anticipated revenge of the E'akru race.

The woman-Katie was starting to think of her as Lady E'akru-moved over to where the Matron was crouching. The Matron started to speak, but Lady E'akru cut her off.

"We have heard your defense. We already know of your crimes. We remember the pain, the suffering that you caused us. In our world, the sentence is nothing less than death.

"However, we are not without mercy. We also know why you committed these heinous acts. We understand that you were trying to heal others, and did what you thought was right.

"By our judgment, you shall be allowed to live. Not as you are now, but as one of us. You will remain here, and shall start your life anew as a seed. You shall grow, but will not be able to create more of yourself. You will provide energy, and healing, and life to others. If you are turned upon by those at the hospital, then it is of your own design, and you will reap what you have sown."

Her words hung in the air. Then the Matron spoke. "I understand. Thank you."

Lady E'akru bent down, and touched the Matron's shoulder. The Matron gasped, though not in pain. Katie and the Doctor stood and watched as Lady E'akru poured energy into her. Matron Shravin began to glow, and the different energies swirled around her, barely visible to the naked eye, but growing brighter. When the light became too bright to look at, Katie closed her eyes and saw the change. The Matron was slowly shrinking in size, and her features disappeared. The energy, the 'breath of the universe', suddenly came together, and where the Matron used to be, a small crystal, no bigger than a fist, lay in her place, slowly pulsing with purple light.

"It is done. She is now an E'akru, but she will be alone, for her entire existence. Doctor, I would ask you to take this new life, and plant it in the ground above, where it can see the sun. Down beneath is no place for a living thing."

"Where will you go," the Doctor asked.

"We will find a new home. This planet holds nothing for us. Once again, we thank you Doctor, for bringing the young Jahra to us. Young child, remember my words to you. Do not forget the song that led you to us, for one day, it will become your own. But fear not. That time is far off, and the song of rebirth will drown it out, erasing every memory of that pain."

"Thank you. I will not forget."

Lady E'akru raised her arms, and in one flash of light, she, and her entire race, had vanished.

* * *

"That was exciting. I can see why you keep finding new places."

"Yep, always searching for one with a happy ending."

The Doctor and Katie were back in the Observation Lounge, each with their respective drinks. They were just watching the sun go down, the conversation almost gone. A little ways away, a small tree was starting to grow.

"Doctor, when we were still being held at gun point, I got the feeling you knew the Matron from somewhere."

"Oh, I've popped in a few times for different things." He said, his tone trying to close the subject. Katie ignored it and pressed another side of the issue.

"She said that you pick 'them', but then you told her that your companions pick you. What did you mean?"

The Doctor's expression shifted so subtly that Katie almost missed it. "From time to time, people join me traveling. My companions pick me because they chose to act in a way I can respect, and then they accept my invitation.

"One thing I don't quite get though," the Doctor said, changing the subject. "Did you actually have a plan down there, or were you still making it up when you started tapping in Morse Code?"

Katie recognized his discomfort and decided to honor it this time. "I had a sort of an idea. I grew up on a walnut orchard, so I when I came across one of the pipes, I knew it had to serve the same purpose irrigation pipes do on Earth. I figured that the snow would have completely stolen all the energy the trees had, unless there was something else. So I took a gamble, had you distract her with talk, and then drew her fire."

"What would you have done if her gun hadn't hit the pipe?"

She smiled mischievously. "I took out a bit of insurance. I had a lighter in my back pocket, and I made use of it. I had forgotten I had put it there until I sat on it. Explosions are explosions where ever you may be."

A few minutes passed in companionable silence. "Where will you go next, Doctor?"

"Oh, I've got a few ideas. Your hair reminded me I haven't been to Ireland in a while. Maybe I'll stop by there."

"Should work for you."

"Do you want to see it?" he asked, hoping she would say yes.

Katie shrugged casually. "Oh, I suppose I'll get there someday. One ride will lead to the next, until I finally show up. What year are we in?"

"What?"

"Don't give me that. If human's have hospitals like this, it can't be the 21st century. So, when are we?"

"The year 5001, on the planet Zroink."

"Zroink. What kind of planet has the name Zroink?"

The Doctor sounded offended. "Zroink's a nice name, a lot better than Earth. What idiot thought of that, Earth."

"Point taken." Katie was quiet, as though thinking something over. "Can I see it?"

"See what?"

"Your ship. The TARDIS. You at least owe me that much, after I saved your life back there."

"You didn't really save it, you just acted before I could."

She nodded, smiling. "Right. I could see your brilliant plan taking shape, I was just impatient. Come on, admit it. I saved your life."

"Don't act so smug, you aren't the first one to do it. My last friend, Martha Jones, gave me CPR the first time I met her."

"Must have been a pain for her, having to press on two hearts. Besides, you probably had your own shining moment in the spotlight, judging by what the E'akru said. This time, you had to watch while others did the work. Pride. Happens to the best of us."

The Doctor smiled. "Come on, if you want to see her we'd better start moving. If the authorities show up, we'll be answering questions I don't feel like answering."

The two rushed through the halls, heading towards the roof. Katie wished she could come up with the courage to ask the Doctor if she could join him, but the pain in his eyes when he mentioned Martha told her it was safer not to. She could see that he had lost many people, and didn't want him to worry over another.

"Ah, there she is. The TARDIS, finest ship in the universe."

Katie looked around. All she could see was a small blue police box. She had seen pictures of them in history books of England. "Where is it? Do you have it cloaked or something?"

"No, it's that blue box over there."

She blinked, trying to absorb that fact, while the Doctor continued to walk towards the blue box. "The police box is your ship. I'm sorry mate, I've seen the inside of your ship. Well, the closet part anyway, and your ship is much bigger then that."

"I thought I told you the inside's bigger than the outside." He started patting his pockets and pulled out a key.

"That explanation only goes so far, buddy. You couldn't fit 3 people inside that, much less a ship."

The Doctor unlocked the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

"I'm not going in." Katie called out, loud enough for him to hear. Under her breath, she added, "It would get a little too personal for me."

Curiosity got the better of her, and she walked over to the blue box. Touching its side, she found it was wood. "Nice antique, but wood's not going to hold up in space." She walked all the way around it, expecting at any moment to run into the rest of the ship, but she didn't. When she reached the front again, she was startled by the Doctor abruptly opening the door.

"Are you going to stand outside all day?"

Katie sighed. "Fine. I might as well."

Kathryn Moore's first sight of inside of the TARDIS, while knowing its outer dimensions, was truly something to see. She didn't run back out to check if she was seeing things. She didn't give comments the Doctor had heard a hundred times. She didn't even ask him how the whole size thing worked. She simply swallowed, tried to speak, and swallowed again. She licked her lips, still trying to find words. The Doctor stood in the corner, enjoying every minute of her speechlessness. It was the first time since he had met her she was at a loss for words.

When she spoke, her voice was laden with awe. "She's beautiful. How many rooms does she have?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't found them all yet."

"Heating and cooling must cost a fortune." Katie started walking around the room, seemingly afraid to touch anything, but looking as though she longed to. "Is this where you fly her?"

"Yep. Most people don't see beyond this room. I don't usually go past it either. Don't need to really."

"How do you fly her?"

"Would you like to learn?"

Katie's eyes brightened. "Are you serious? You'd teach me to pilot a ship that flies through time?"

"Well, I'd have to test you first. Make sure you're the kind of person that could do it. The TARDIS is picky about who drives her."

"How do you figure out who gets to learn?"

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the TARDIS. "Usually, the person travels with me for a bit, and then one day, the TARDIS tells me."

"Oh." Katie said sadly. "I see." _I would have to travel with him._ Katie thought. _I couldn't do that to him. At 903, he's probably lost more than enough friends._

"What?" The Doctor asked, sounding concerned.

Katie's mind scrambled for an excuse. "Well, if the TARDIS chooses her drivers, she probably wouldn't let me near. Not after I shot you and everything."

"Then why don't we show her that your manners have improved? You want to come with me?"

Katie stopped herself from yelling 'yes'. "You sure? I'm not too American or anything. You wouldn't want to find someone with a bit more experience. Someone you traveled with before."

"Consider it a thank you for saving my life. Besides, I have to do something with you. Can't have you wandering off and starting a war by insulting the wrong person, can we?"

She smiled. She could tell the Doctor would come up with a counter for every excuse. "With 1000 years to go, I'd better learn a few things from an expert."

The Doctor grinned. "Right then." He started dashing about, throwing different switches and pulling levers. "Any particular place you want to go? You have every second of every planet in all of existance to chose from."

Katie looked at the floor, then quietly said, "Yeah. May 8th, 2011, 10:00 A.M. Lake County, California."

He looked at her sternly. "Kathryn, you can't."

She brought her head up and took a step towards him. "No, it's not like that. I just…I just want to see if she lived. And who knows," she said with false cheer, "Maybe I made the front page."

* * *

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accetped, flames not wanted*


	11. Chapter 11

_Vworp vworp vworp. Thuom. Krrrik._

Katie came out of the TARDIS and stepped back to look at it. "Does she always make that sound?"

"What's wrong with it?" The Doctor asked, joining her. "I like that sound."

"Oh, I'm not saying anything against it. I was just wondering. Now let's see, where did you park us?"

Katie looked up and down the street. Lake County could seldom be considered bustling, and this morning in Kelseyville, there was almost no sign of life.

"Come on. The high school's this way." She pulled up short. "Hang on. Won't someone notice the TARDIS? I mean she isn't exactly at home, is she."

"Perception filter. No one will notice. The big question is, though," the Doctor replied, picking a paper up from a nearby bench, "why did are you trying to get into a high school on Sunday? I make a point never to land on Sundays. Sunday's are boring."

"The school graduation was last Friday. The janitor always comes back the next week to make sure the place is spotless. If anyone knows about what happened to her, the janitor will. Hold on to that newspaper, we'll need it."

They made a quick stop at a coffee shop for a black coffee and two éclairs. Katie put these things in a bag along with a napkin that had something scribbled on it and wrote a name on the bag. Soon after, they arrived at the high school. It was nothing special, just your average high school campus. Sub-average in fact. Behind the school, they found a woman, somewhere in her late 50's and about 4' 11", scrubbing graffiti off the wall. She was muttering to herself as she worked.

The Doctor walked up to her and flashed what looked like a wallet at the woman. "Morning, don't mind us, just the school cleanliness inspectors, we-"

The woman whirled around and waved a hard scrub brush in the Doctor's face. "Now look here, I know the man who comes by to make sure this place is clean, and you aren't him. I don't need some rude British boy wandering around the place and sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. Your accent won't make you seem any better in my book."

The Doctor, who was never at a loss for words, had a reply ready. "Right. Sorry, should have known I couldn't fool you. Ah, we're new here, and we were wondering if-"

"Feh!" The woman turned back around, scrubbing harder at the wall. "Impolite youngsters, same on either side of the Atlantic."

Katie flashed the Doctor a look that told him to let her handle this. "I have to apologize for my cousin's manners. He was never really taught how to treat those older and wiser than he is. My name is Kathryn, and this is Hubert."

"Hubert?!" The Doctor cut in.

Katie forced a smile at him. "Now don't be ashamed about your real name Hubert." Turning back to the woman, she continued. "We've heard rumors about the events that occurred here at the school last Thursday, and were wondering if you could tell us what happened."

The woman turned and looked untrustingly at the two of them. "Why are you asking me? Why not go to someone your own age, or better yet, the family of the girl that saved the place. You could even read the newspaper to find out what happened."

"Newspapers rarely ever tell the real story, and if something…drastic had happened to the girl,-"

"You mean if she was dead?" The woman cut in.

"Yes. If she had died, we didn't want to hurt her family by inquiring about the events. Besides," Katie said with a conspiratorial look, "janitor's always know what really happened. They're the only ones who bother to keep their eyes open."

The woman looked Katie up and down, then nodded abruptly. "You can call me Ms. Healy. If you want to talk, grab a brush and start scrubbing. You can help get this paint off the walls."

Katie and the Doctor started to work. Healy returned the favor by talking. "Last Thursday, the high school had their fancy dress dance for the graduates. One of them, a fifteen year old that called herself Kavrin,-"

"Was that a nickname?"

Ms. Healy glared at the Doctor. "You ever learn it's impolite to interrupt someone else?"

Katie glanced sternly at the Doctor, then turned back. "Sorry, Ms. Healy. Hubert can be quite rude at times."

Ms. Healy snorted disapprovingly. "I don't mind telling the story as long as he keeps his mouth shut. To answer his question, yes, it was her nickname. She was very picky about it, and never answered to her birth name, pretty though it was. I always tried to convince her to use her real name, but she never would.

"Anyway, Kavrin was a real girl, unlike the air-heads that usually float around these days. She didn't pay attention to the boys, didn't obsess over the movie stars, got good grades, and knew how to have a polite, real conversation, without all those slang words and foul speech most kids use these days. Of course, with all of those character traits, everyone in the school looked down on her.

"The school's female bully, Lona, chose Kavrin to be on the dance decorating staff, purely out of spite. Kavrin had to attend the dance, but slipped away not far in. Good thing too, because not long after she did, ten tall red…things came in and started shooting people and waving guns around. They kept demanding a transporter, and I got the feeling they didn't mean a car. I was in the back of the crowd when I saw Kavrin come in. She ended up saving the lives of three girls and then leading the other people away. We, of course called the police.

"Shortly after the police showed up, another group of people in fancy military dress came. The vans they had said UNIT on the side, whatever that means. They took the bodies and rushed off."

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Pardon me for interrupting the story again, but are you sure it was UNIT?"

"Are you questioning my sanity? Do I look like I need glasses? Of course I know what I saw."

"No, I'm just saying that UNIT isn't a common name for a military group to have. You'd expect things like…um." Tuning to Katie he asked, "What sort of secret services do they have over here?"

Katie smiled mischievously. "What, smart ol' Doctor doesn't know about America? Shame. I'll have to educate you. But for now, please continue with your story, Ms. Healy."

"Next day, the story in the paper is that it was a local gang trying to cause a scare. Local gang, my eye. No local gang has ten 7-foot tall members to spare. And if it was a local thing, they wouldn't have gotten all painted up like that, and they wouldn't have gone after the people they did. None of the other kids bothered them. Only Kavrin would have been a target."

Ms. Healy cleared her throat as though she had said too much. Katie saw a quiet moment to ask a question. "What happened to Kavrin? Did she come back?"

"If you're asking if she lived, then yes. She gave me a call this morning, said she'd be over here to keep me company this afternoon. Usually she helps, but one of those things bit her shoulder, so she can't do much. If you wait here long enough, you can meet her. She'd like you, Kathryn. Can't say the same for your cousin though."

The Doctor looked offended as Katie hid a smile. "No, but thank you for the offer. We have to be someplace."

"I'm sure you do." Ms. Healy said, her voice giving away the fact she thought they were lying. "Well, you two have finished that section. I reckon it's enough payment for the story. Now scoot before I put you to work again."

"Ah, one last thing, Ms. Healy." The Doctor said. "Could you keep this meeting a secret?"

She smiled for the first time. "You were never here."

The Doctor eagerly dropped his brush in a bucket. Katie did the same, though with reluctance. They walked off murmuring good-byes. They had only gone a few yards when Katie turned around and ran back. She gave Ms. Healy a hug that caught her off guard, and whispered, "Thank you for everything Margaret." Then Katie dashed back to the Doctor.

Margaret Healy stood watching the red-head bound away. There was something familiar about the girl, but she couldn't place it. She looked down and noticed a white paper bag with her name written on it sitting on top of a newspaper. Opening it, she found her favorite breakfast, but one she often couldn't afford. Pulling out the napkin, she saw a note written on it.

"Ms. Margaret Healy,

Whatever news you have given myself and the Doctor, I thank you for it. You are an amazing woman, and I would trust you with my life. Keep our meeting a secret, and don't discuss the events at the school with anyone either. Well, you can talk it over with Kavrin, but that's all. Telling too many people may get you hurt, and I don't want that. Don't tell anyone about this note either. In fact, it would be better if you burned it. I'll miss you and everyone else. Farewell.

The note was unsigned, but Ms. Healy knew who had written it, sort of. She knew it wasn't her Kavrin, but it was one of them. She believed in time travel and alternate universes. All those events in the UK during the past few years had proven the existence of aliens, so why not other things?

* * *

When the Doctor and Katie were out of sight, the Doctor turned to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "What was on that napkin?"

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing that will change history Doctor. Don't worry." She started to break free but the Doctor pulled her back.

"Kathryn Moore, what did you tell that woman?"

"I told her to not talk about what happened with anyone except Kavrin, and to keep our meeting a secret. That's all."

The Doctor stood up, satisfied. After they had walked a few feet, he asked, "Hubert?"

Katie laughed. "It was the first thing that popped into my mind."

"Well, I can understand that but, Hubert? Where do you get a name like that from? I don't even look like a Hubert."

"I have no idea." She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "She liked you, you know. Ms. Healy."

"Would that matter?" the Doctor asked in a tone that plainly said it did.

"To someone like you, yeah. She treated me precisely the same way when we first met. She told me I was a brain-box who needed to learn some humility in order to make it to the real world, and just because I was in high school at 11 didn't make me better than anyone."

"She said I was rude." The Doctor protested.

Katie blinked openly at him. "You were. You walked up, assuming she was stupid enough to accept you at face value, lied to cover up your mistake, and didn't even introduce yourself. What was that thing you flashed at her anyway?"

The Doctor reached into his coat pocket, pulled out the small wallet, and handed it to Katie. She opened it, only to find a blank piece of paper inside. The Doctor explained, "Psychic paper. Makes people see whatever I want them to see."

"Wow. This would have come in handy more than a few times."

After a few moments of silence, during which Katie gave back the psychic paper, the Doctor asked, "What did Ms. Healy mean when she said you would have been the only target if the Grixzen attack was really a gang-"

Katie pulled up short and turned to the Doctor. Her face was solemn, and when she spoke her voice was cool. "Doctor, let us get one thing straight before we go anywhere. My past is my past. What happened to me down on this planet doesn't affect you. If a situation ever arises where it does, I will handle it and you will not get involved or ask questions. If I mention something during the amount of time we know each other, then you will not pursue it. I will do the same for you. Are we agreed?"

"Yeah." The Doctor said quietly. He recognized that his words had struck a deep chord with this odd flame-haired child. _How can a member of a species so young, herself barely grown, have such a thick, unspeakable, terrible past? _He asked himself he pulled out the TARDIS key and put it in the lock. _Still, she won't try to pry as others have. Some things are better left alone._

Katie paused for a moment to look at everything. For a moment, she looked as though she was going to say something sentimental. She mouthed a few words, then smiled as though she had just done something she was proud of.

_ I'm not going to ask. _He looked at her. "You alright?"

She acted shocked. "Of course I am. I've lived in this dinky little county my whole life, and I'm ready to see all of time and space. It never was much of anything. It had only two things to say about it: the pears and Clear Lake."

"Pears? What about the pears? If you're going to say we should get some then no. I hate pears."

Katie crossed her arms and smiled, remembering. "Ruddy good thing you never lived here then. Lake County was once the pear capitol of the world. Then the growers decided to follow Napa's example and go into the wine business. And then the lake, oh the lake. Largest natural lake in California. Has great big fish, wonderful if you just want your picture taken. I wouldn't try eating anything from it though. Right now, it's chuck full of mercury. And it turns green and smells bad in August from the algae. So even that's gone." Katie shook her head and straightened. "You mentioned Ireland. We still going?"

The Doctor beamed as they entered the TARDIS, off to the next adventure.

* * *

As the TARDIS disappeared, a car pulled up outside the high school. A young girl, only about fifteen years old, got out. Her arm was in a sling. She looked down the street to where she heard the odd noise. Then, shrugging it off, she went to go join her friend in cleaning.

* * *

*Critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*

To anyone who has just read this, I feel I need to apologize. This was my first full-length story and it's not that well-written. To read a much improved version of this, head to my profile and click on the story titled, "American Bred REDONE Episode 1: Energy Crisis."

However, if you enjoyed it-which I sincerly hope-the story continues in "American Bred Episode 2: Love of Fear." An improved version of that will be out soon as well.

Best wishes!


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